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Anticipating Disruptions to the Daily Routine
By Polly | May 22, 2008
There are some days and weeks when I feel like I have gotten nothing done which I know isn’t the case because with four kids, a husband, and a job, I know I had to have done something. But when I look back at my day and can’t scratch anything off my list or haven’t gotten one thing from my daily routine done, I have to wonder what I am doing wrong. After all what’s the point of creating routines and do lists when you can never seem to scratch anything off? So when I think back and analyze what went wrong I realize that for a majority of the time, I did a really poor job of anticipating disruptions. Somehow when I was sitting down to write out my plan for the week, I had a momentary fantasy that I was Superwoman and could accomplish anything and everything. Of course leaving me completely frustrated at the end of the week when I didn’t accomplish anything on my list.
So over the years, I have gotten better about anticipating disruptions to the routine and being more realistic about what I can humanly accomplish with my sanity intact while also being more proactive at minimizing them. Here is a list of the things I have found to be the biggest disruptions to my routine and how I try to work around them:
Having Too Many Appointments
There are weeks when I spend a lot of time sitting in doctors’ offices. My youngest was born with congenital glaucoma and this requires at times a lot of different visits to both a cornea specialist and pediatric ophthalmologist. This is of course on top of the regular visits I have for myself and other three kids to the dentist, pediatrician, optometrist, as well as school and work related appointments.
So to minimize how much appointments disrupt my routine here is what I do:
- Schedule doctor’s appointments a lot in advance so that I have more choice over the time and day.
- Minimize how many appointments I have each week pushing the non-critical ones to another week if there are too many
- Not being afraid to reschedule appointments
- Making the most of the time I spend waiting for doctors by making sure that I have things to do such as kids’ homework or work projects such as writing blog posts.
Having Too Many Errands
In addition to all the appointments there are errands that all seem to happen at once. Errands like dropping off books at the library, going to the bank, picking up a birthday gift, or stopping to fill up your car with gas as you coast into the station on fumes. To minimize the disruptions caused by errands I use these strategies:
- Try to do all errands on one day to save time and gas
- Keep an errand list , so that I don’t forget anything or spend time trying to remember everything I have to get done.
- Buy things like gifts online whenever possible.
- Keep a small gift stash on hand for those last minute birthday party invites
- Use a meal planner and shopping list to minimize how many stops I need to make at the stores.
Underestimating How Much Time Things Will Take
This is definitely where I am weakest. I always think I can get things done quicker than I can by failing to account for disruptions from kids, computer glitches, and traffic jams. So to minimize the disruptions caused by this I use these techniques:
- For big projects, I do a quick time estimate to help me gauge how long something will take. I then look at my calendar and try and determine if I can honestly get the task done given how much time is required and all the other commitments I have for the week or day.
- Use the internet to check on traffic before heading out to see if there are any traffic jams or detours I need to account for in my travels.
- Adding a cushion into all my time estimates especially when it involves getting kids ready and out the door.
Disruptions are a reality of any busy family’s life and there are times when no amount of planning and strategizing will prevent them from happening. It is times like these you just need to cope and make sure you focus on the critical things because if your routine is strong picking back up when the disruptions are over should be an easy thing to do.
Related Entries:
Managing Disruptions to the Routine
The Power of a Good Routine
Easing the Morning Rush
Five Strategies to Keep Families Organized this School Year
Creating a House Cleaning Schedule