A question I am frequently asked is how the hell I manage to get everything done as a single parent. The reality is that becoming single all those years ago forced me to take a good hard look at my priorities and honestly, some things?
They don’t get done.
Well, at least not by me.
Being full-time in the workforce is a challenge for anyone that doesn’t have their co-parent home full or part-time. Regardless of how many adults are under my roof I have the same number of things to accomplish as two-parent households have.
My lawn? She needs to be mowed.
My driveway? She needs to be plowed.
My house? She requires cleaning.
My fridge? I’ll be damned, she requires food.
If I have learned anything over the years (single or not) I have learned this: being a grown up requires mad skilz in the department of juggling multiple tasks at once. Everything I know about GOOD project management I learned by becoming a single parent.
From risk mitigation to time management to delegating tasks, I was never a power house Project Manager until I had to run a household on my own.
I’ve always believed that having two adults in a household adds to the risk. While on the surface one might assume that two are better than one but really, that extra adult is just one more person to eff up your system. So for me, being the only adult to run the house lessens risk, eliminates chaos and requires less calls to 9-1-1 for domestics.
Juggling our personal life is always a challenge though. Regardless of if we have a one adult household or a ten adult household. There is always something that needs to be taken care of during those precious 9-5 hours.
The Tattooed Mommie recently wrote an article on the subject of getting our personal tasks taken care of during working hours. I ran across her article today and I think she asks a question that we all want to find the answer to:
“How do we find that time to do those small but important tasks without having to rush ourselves through lunch, eating while driving back to the office or having to skip lunch all together (since that’s really bad for your metabolism) without getting fired?”
Do you have the answer? How do you juggle your personal tasks that absolutely must be taken care of Monday thru Friday from 9-5? Are you allowed comp time? Do you work close to home? Do you work in a downtown or part of town that makes it convenient to run errands during the lunch hour?
What types of tasks are you completing on company time?
Do tell…
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As you can see, my answers are probably not really the best - as in some cases they could probably get you fired - but hey, it works for me, so I just go with the flow.
Thanks for linking to me!
I can say this much, my boss is awesome. He understands that as a mother that my family comes first and he allows me (and luckily my type of job makes it easy) to work from home as well. Although, I really try not to do it unless in dire situations. Like, for example when the last Season of The Sopranos came out on DVD. Totally work related. Somehow.
Anywhoo.. I never really thought about how much “project management” comes in to play with running a household, but by God I’m putting it on my resume now because if that’s not the mother of project management experience (forgive the pun?) I don’t know what is!
The Tattooed Mommie | September 28th, 2007 at 6:33 am
ha! kathy - you sound like my mother. she has always said the best part was not having to justify her parenting decisions. plus, your mess is your OWN mess! i swear my hubby creates FAR more mess than my son and i could ever hope to create. That is very frustraiting. The days he is gone and i have the boy to myself i get much more accomplished and i think ‘how is that possible’? but i think you just explained it
Kate | September 28th, 2007 at 7:08 am
I’m extremely lucky that hubby is a HUGE help and, at the same time, is always in the way! I’ve discovered it’s because I run the ship all week and then on the weekends he’s got plans. And if I have plans I’m not good at expressing them and since he “can’t read my mind” there’s often a beautiful misunderstanding. Gotta love it. Oh, and I’ll pawn some of those 9-5 errands off on him and let him figure it out! Nice, huh? It’s all in the way I delegate.
Mandy | September 28th, 2007 at 12:40 pm