Eliminate last minute rush

We all live busy lives, jumping from one project to the next, from one activity to the next. I recently went through my calendar for the next three months to look at what commitments I had and how I was going to balance that with keeping my children focused on their learning projects. I have a few busy months ahead!

One of the things that puts great pressure on me, and on the family, is last minute rush. The only way to eliminate ‘last minute rush’ is to be prepared. To be prepared means: Made ready or fit or suitable beforehand, properly expectant, organized, or equipped.

Being ready beforehand, being equipped for what is ahead, and being organized takes time. Do we make time to get ready? Whether it is a big project or whether it is just the daily comings and goings of life, we need to be prepared. We need to find time in our days that is set aside in preparation for….

leaving the house
having guests
lessons that need to be taught
travel (I hate packing!)
a celebration
the weekend (read my post about this)
my day (starting off with saying good-morning to my Lord)

I have a few times of preparation built into my routines.

Each Sunday night I prepare for the coming week. I arrange my commitments and expectations. I delete and change things where I see conflict or overload.
At this time, I also look ahead for the next four weeks, to see what I need to do now in order to be prepared ahead of time.
Friday afternoon or Saturday sometime I prepare lessons for the coming week. These days this generally means just familiarising myself with where various lessons are at, but when my children where young this also meant preparing lapbooks, art projects, independent activities, etc.
Each evening I remind myself of what is happening tomorrow. I prepare anything that needs extra attention as far as the kids lessons go. I’d like to get into the habit of ensuring I have clothes ready to go but this is a habit I have not yet mastered.
During January I prepare a general direction for each of my children for the coming year.
Every three months I set aside time to reflect on our yearly goals and direction and tweak things if I need to.

A new habit I am working on is when I take on a project to set out a schedule; to outline what tasks need to happen, and their deadline. I then work on when they are actually going to be done, and who can do them. As I incorporate these project-tasks into our life, something has to go – I can’t keep jamming stuff into our day. I need to have an honest look at our diary, and make room for what is important. A mother is indeed a project manager and requires all the skills of time management, overseeing a team, and detail planning as any corporate project manager is required to have.

What projects are you working on at the moment? Have you given the details enough thought so that you will be prepared ahead of time, fit and ready to go, organised, properly expectant and equipped?