Are You a Mom? This is For You!
July 11th, 2008Categories | Contributors | GTD for Moms | Getting Things Done
Yesterday, CNN posted a special section on parenting with a focus on moms. Pages of content with tips, advice, answers to common questions and even video round out what appears to be a very nicely done presentation designed to help moms everywhere do a little more with a little less money and a lot less time.
This got me thinking. How many moms out there use GTD to help them manage all of the things that most moms have to handle? From keeping the household from running off the rails to getting dads dry cleaning (or is dad picking it up himself these days?) to making sure that everyone is properly inoculated before the new school year begins, it seems to me like GTD would be a lifesaver.
The thing is, I’m not a mom and so there’s a certain lack of knowledge and perspective here of which I am well aware. I’m sure that at least a couple moms read this site, however and it is to them that I make this appeal; would one (or more than one) of you like to contribute to GTDtimes? I think that having a section written for moms practicing GTD by moms that practice GTD would be very useful and very interesting - even for those of us who will never be moms. (Sometimes it is good for us to see how other people deal with things that we can’t even imagine to help us put our own petty troubles into perspective!)
If anyone out there would like to take up the mantle of writing a GTD for Moms column here at GTDtimes, I would love to hear from you. Please write to me at editor at GTDtimes dot com and put “Mom” in the subject line. I can’t promise you’ll make money but I can promise both some very nice exposure and some very cool gifts for helping us out.
I’ve found that GTD is a fairly ubiquitous tool for managing my life; my list includes tasks for writing that presentation for the CEO, all the way down to buying my daughter’s lanyard so her new Centro won’t meet the same watery end as her last phone.
Sure, GTD teaches you a solid discipline that is indispensable in organizing the endless tasks associated with running a household and keeping a family on track, but it holds so much more than just a better to do list.
Just like our goals for our own self improvement, I think every parent has a vision of values and skills they want to instill in their children. GTD gives you the framework to think about these, and the time to focus on them, which makes it a powerful tool for helping our kids become independent, happy, self-fulfilled adults.
That’s why my trusted system also holds things like a project to help my daughter improve her academic performance or a task to edit her first resume. Those are the next actions towards my ultimate goal of giving her the best possible start in her adult life. And doing that is one of my primary responsibilities, so it all fits naturally into my 50K foot review.
In fact, I’ve started introducing David’s concepts to my daughter, who, at only 20 years old, already feels anxiety because she has so many goals but has not figured out how to think about them and take the next logical action. Beyond just using GTD to run our busy lives, parents can use GTD principles to teach our children how to get all they want from life, one ‘next action’ at a time.
Ask Lisa http://productivityathome.typepad.com/my_weblog/
I am a limited-techie mom of 3 (one in preschool, one in elementary school and a senior in high school) and started my GTD journey over the last 9 months or so. I have been combing the web looking for others like me who are trying to balance the details of managing a home, raising children, as well as volunteer work and a part-time job. My cup runneth over and I know there are efficiences I have gained and will continue to find by using GTD. I love that this system provides me the opportunity to dream big and review my values, ideas and goals on a regular basis. I curently use a hybrid of a wall calendar (so that the entire family can see the time commitments we have all made, color coded by individual) and Thinking Rock to manage my lists, though I am having a hard time keeping this up to date as I am not in front of my computer all day, and if I am, I shouldn’t be! I may need to go back to my paper lists, though after a week or so, the lists get too messy for my liking, especially when I am not able to get to everything week to week. I struggle with priority and volume and am trying to seek a balance beteween challenging myself (and our family) to do more versus only putting those things on my active projects list that I know I can get to within a week or two. I am also playing around with using my Daytimer calendar to keep my personal daily schedule in front of me, but am trying to determine the time cost/benefit ratio of doing so. I have checklists for those things that are recurring and am still trying to get a handle on getting all of my incomplete loops in one place. Getting all of my inboxes to zero is one of my biggest challenges. Of all the GTD sites out there, I find myself checking this one almost daily and love what I see. Imagine my surprise, after surfing the web daily for weeks looking for other GTD Moms, to see a message from you looking for us! I look forward to seeing what comes of this and want to thank you for all you do in providing this site and service - keep up the great work!
Bethany, thanks for your comment and for the kind words. If you ever feel like submitting a post that you’d like to share with other Moms like you that are doing the work of three or four men, please feel free to send it my way - I’m sure that other moms as well as a few of us guys could benefit from your words of wisdom.
Editor
An interesting perspective to include is how dads get it all done (too). Raising 3 children alone and meeting GTD is why I was inspired to get GTD4kids started for parents and children.
Basically I see three areas of focus:
1. Parents with young children (under 7 years old)
2. Children geting things done (7 - 14 years old)
3. Teenagers and young adults (14 - 21+ years old)
As a parent I am involved at each stage and as my kids grow up I can share (by example) how I get things done. Helping them to become independent and self reliant.
Any contribution from fathers or mothers is in my opinion of interest. Especially from my persepective of getting everything done.
And by the way, I love what I am doing. That is why I want to share my experiences and ideas. Anybody else doing the same?