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How long does it take you to pack your child’s lunch? I wish I could say not long at all but I’ve noticed a pattern my behavior lately.
It takes me 35 minutes to pack my son’s lunch. No, I don’t have cute cutout shapes of bread or Pintrest worthy bento boxes. Rather, I suffer from distracted mom syndrome.
You see, I’ll start to make my son’s lunch and then the baby will be finished with her breakfast. So, I’ll grab her, clean her hands, wipe her face (all done at the sink) and then I’ll notice the growing pile of dishes and realize I need to empty the dishwasher. I’ll put the baby down, begin to empty the dishwasher and then remember that I was packing my son’s lunch. So I’ll go back to packing the lunch, which requires cleaning fruit. While cleaning the fruit, I’ll notice the dirty bottles. I’ll put the fruit on the counter then begin to clean the bottles. Then son will call from the other room that he wants a different TV show. I’ll run in change the challenge. And then notice the huge mess he made that is not baby safe so I’ll quickly tidy that up and head back to the kitchen but before I do I hear the dog barking. Since I don’t want to piss off the neighbors I’ll quickly run to let her back in the house, walking by my son’s unpacked lunch on the way. On my way back from the kitchen my husband will ask me something that will distract me (I can’t think of good example at the moment, but often something he could have figured out on his own.) This will be quickly followed by, “Is our son’s lunch ready?”
Frazzled. Unfeed. Still wear my PJ’s, which let’s be honest is likely the outfit I wore yesterday. With morning breath I reply…no.
I’ll finish the lunch. And the two of them will be out the door leaving behind my daughter and I and a huge mess of half completed tasks.
And that my friends, it why I hate multitasking.
It simply doesn’t work. I need to finish the task at hand before moving to the next. Can you relate? Do you find that you’re able to accomplish more if you finish one task before moving on to the next?
I decided to try something. I set the timer. I forced myself to finished what I started before moving to the next task. This is especially important in the morning.
Can you believe it? I was able to pack lunch, clean up from breakfast, empty and reload the dishwasher and have time to make my smoothie before my husband and son left of the day.
It was amazing. It was a much better start to my day.
Which resulted in be more productive with the rest of my day.
It’s your turn, I want to hear from you. What time of day is most stressful for you? What tricks do you use to stay on task and get ‘er done?
Post a comment below to share you tip or story. And if you can relate to my crazy morning, share this post with your girlfriends. As busy working moms, we need to share our real stories of what can happen when were a little off our game. Let’s keep it real, ladies.
Much love,
Melanie