Zen Habits on Simplification with Kids

Yesterday's post about scheduling real life obviously revealed a bit of frustration at some of the chaos that can tend to envelop life outside of work with the kiddos.  Almost as if in direct response to my plea, today Leo at ZenHabits has posted 25 Ways to Simplify Your Life with Kids.  In typical ZenHabits style, the list contains some great nuggets that I can put to use right away.  In my post I resolved to begin putting all events on the calendar so I can see what's going on.  Here's what Leo has to say on the topic:

 

2.  One calendar. If you have more than one kid, you might have a lot of activities going on that you need to track, from school events such as Christmas performances and parent-teacher conferences to extracurricular activities such as soccer practice, dance classes, or Spring concerts. Organize your life with a simple calendar (I use Google Calendar) and enter all activities and appointments on this one calendar, from kids' stuff to your own goings on. When they hand you papers from school, or soccer schedules, immediately enter everything onto the calendar. Then a quick glance at the calendar each day will help you plan your day.

 

There are several other good ideas in the post including early preparation, dedicating time to each child and to your spouse, and performing cooking and cleaning chores as a family.  I'll be putting some of these ideas to use right away!

Scheduling Real Life

When I'm at work, scheduling comes naturally.  I always have a calendar showing the day's appointments right in front of me when I'm at my desk.  I keep my project plans and task schedules up to date so I can always have a finger on my project status.  I'm in the habit of keeping things on time and it just seems to work for me - at work.

 

Why is it, then, that outside of work is such a different story?  Three kids with sports practices and extra-curricular activites.  My wife who is finishing up her degree in the evenings and working part time.  Kids' homework, dinner, showers, etc.  House cleaning, repairs, yard work.  Sleep (glorious sleep).  I'm well aware that if I would keep the same sort of meticulous schedule at home that I do at work, things would flow much more smoothly.  Why don't I do it?

 

I think the primary reason is that I have this belief that non-working time should be liesure time.  I know that is not true, but it's deeply rooted in my gut.  It just feels like if I'm doing the same things that I do at work to manage life outside of work - have I ever really left work?  The paradox is that by doing those things at work I keep the fire-fighting to a minimum and keep things mostly under control.  I could have all of that goodness at home as well, if only...

 

OK.  New resolution - I will take the first step towards getting my home life back under control starting today.  For baby step number one I will schedule all of my home activities on iCal, which I will then publish to Google calendar.  This will at least allow me to keep the framework of the days activities in my mind so I that I can stay focused on what is at hand.  I will do this for two weeks and then begin the as yet unnamed baby step number two.