A few weeks ago, I wrote about how learning about my Myers-Briggs personality type helped me get more done by pointing out my natural weaknesses. We’ve also talked a lot about how working parents can’t be expected to do it all. In order to get it all done without doing it all, we’re often told to delegate, but what does that look like in a real household?

It’s easy to say that we need to delegate, to hand out tasks for others to complete, but many working parents find that easier to discuss than to actually implement. In reality, poor delegating leaves kids with dry cereal for lunch and laundry piled up for weeks. Any control freak will tell you that the reason they maintain a tight hold on everything is because past attempts to recruit help have ended in disaster, with reports needing to be redone and apology phone calls needing to be made.

I’ve been experimenting with delegation for a few years now, and I’ve learned a few things about how this and other tricks can make up for my natural weaknesses - without sacrificing the end result of a happy, functional home and work life.
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"Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I want to have a soul generated by love. I want to give thanks for my beautiful life by serving others. I do. But there’s a reason you only see elderly people staffing the volunteer desk at the hospital; working parents are hard pressed to find the time for such generous acts of service. And yet, parents who find a way to volunteer have the potential to make the greatest impact with their contributions.

The very thing that makes it so dang difficult to volunteer is what makes it so crucial that we find a way: our children. Our children, who require our time and energy and money, are always watching. They are learning what kind of adults to be. They are learning from us what matters; this is our chance to teach them the value of reaching out and helping others. Sure, we can read them stories and tell them how important it is to give back, but we all know that they mimic what we do more than they listen to what we say.

But how? How do we find the space in our schedule and the juice at the end of a busy day to do more than keep our own families moving in the right direction? It’s not easy.
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As a working mother, I often feel like I spend the bulk of my life answering questions and making decisions.

"Where’s my Spanish book?"

"Has anyone seen my song sheet?"

"Can I join ski club?"

"When can I have a play date with Amy?"

"When would you like to schedule your son’s doctor appointment?"

"Who’s picking up the kids today?"

"When can you get those pages back to me?"

It’s a reality for anyone who juggles multiple roles and responsibilities, and it can leave even the most patient person mentally exhausted at the end of the day. That fatigue can cause us to snap at our loved ones, make poor decisions in haste, and feel too wiped out to handle the commitments that mean the most to us. What’s a busy parent to do?

Take a cue from President Barack Obama and make fewer decisions.
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I love Penelope Trunk. I don’t always agree with her, but I’m hopelessly addicted to her blog. Ms. Trunk is hopelessly addicted to the science of personality types. Every post she writes is riddled with Myers-Briggs acronyms, which she seems to see as infallible keys for predicting one’s life. I’m not sure anyone’s personality or future can be quite so easily decoded, but I did finally decide to decipher my own type - and the answer has helped me quickly become more productive.
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