My Own Chore Chart

I went to a training seminar at work a couple of months ago that was a brief overview of Stephen R. Covey’s book,  Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  Don’t tell my boss, but a lot of times these trainings are a yawn fest and are full of either general information that anyone could figure out with a little common sense, or the information is too vague and doesn’t actually get into the nitty-gritty of how to actually put it into practice.  Even though the seven habits training was brief, it blew me away, and I really want to read his book now.  One thing I took from his teachings is that we tend to be in urgent mode most of the time.  We run around like chickens with our heads cut off because there’s so much to do, and we are constantly overwhelmed.  We live reactively instead of proactively, and are constantly putting out fires instead of keeping things in shape so the fires won’t start to begin with.  All of this frantic energy ends up burning us out and we end up flopping on the couch and watching tv for hours.  This is not a good use of our time.  No wonder I never feel like I get anything done and I feel so frazzled but so lazy at the same time!

I realized I need to slow down and do more planning, and find ways to put things in place so that life isn’t so stressful.  I worry about our kids not eating enough healthy foods but we get home at 6:00 and they’re starving so I make them convenience food like chicken nuggets or spaghettios.  I hate how messy our house is, but I want to spend time with our kids and by the time I get downstairs after putting them to bed at night I’m pooped, so I sit on the couch all night and watch tv or play on the ipad.  I don’t have a hard time finding creative solutions to problems at work—I need to learn to do it at home too.  The first step is to STOP.  I need to stop, focus, and work out a plan.  It doesn’t have to be a perfect plan—I can always tweak it or completely overhaul it later, but having an imperfect plan is better than the current plan, which is no plan at all.

I was making a chore chart for my 5 year old daughter, and realized that I need to make MYSELF a chart for chores and healthy habits.  I think this will be the thing that will get me to start living more proactively and less reactively.  I’ve got a rough draft written up and I will try to get it typed up in the next few days so I can start using it.  I always get a lecture from the dental assistant about not brushing and flossing enough so those things are going to be on there, I get lazy about shaving and doing other things to take care of myself so that’s going to be on there, I always put off cleaning the litter box so that will be on there, serving and eating fruits and vegetables and getting exercise will be on there, and cleaning and organizing will be on there also.  It’s going to be a huge chart, but I’m hoping that tying a small monetary amount (to be spent on myself, not the kids!) to each “chore” will give me the incentive to have healthy habits and to be more productive.

I will post my chart when I get it finished.