Productivity

A few weeks ago, Kyle and I had a conversation about this subject.  His company runs off many statistics that help to assess how they can help other businesses thrive in the area of productivity.  Interestingly enough, some statistician somewhere figured out that average people are only extremely productive for 4-5 hours every 8 hours.  Hmmm.  Well, surely this could a load of hogwash, but let's say it true.

Little ol' me, musing while washing dishes or driving somewhere thought, "hey Paige, this might make a whole lot of sense."  Of course unless you really have a super crazy full day of deadlines, etc.  "I've got two 8 hour chunks in my day, so let's clump some productive times together and prioritize according to my current needs and schedule.  Wow, Paige, you sound so professional!" "Why, thank you Paige."  Ha.  Here's whats I gots to do:

School my two older boys.
Make healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.
Keep up on daily/weekly chores.
      Make beds every morning.
      Pick up rooms twice a day.
      Wipe down bathrooms daily.
      Close kitchen at the end of every night.
       Make weekly plans for school.  (I don't prefer NOT to do it advance for lots of reasons.)
      Vacuum three times a week.
       Mop every other day.
       Do laundry 6 days a week (2-3 a day) and put away at once. (This took me ten years people!)
       Iron Kyle's shirts once a week.  (or a few if I'm lazy.  whoops)
       Read to children twice a day for at least 20-30 min.
       Read myself for at least 15 minutes a day.
       Sit down everyday for 30-60 min. (yes, I make this a priority.  Thanks to My dears Sarah Erickson and
            Becky Freeman)
       Walk every other day and (I plan to) do some calisthenics.
       Organize papers, schoolwork, mail 3 days a week. (Kyle pays bills online for me.  Hallelujah!)
       Mow the lawn, rake leaves, sweep driveway every 10 days.
       Visit, text or make phone calls every day or every other. average of 45 minutes. (Daily with husband and
              Kristal.  Hi Kristal!   ;*3)
       Communicate for 30 minutes at least with husband when he gets home. (the kids are not allowed to
              talk or interrupt us.)
        Sleep for at least 7 hours.

There are of course other things we do every week, but you get the gist.          

Ok, so this is about the average job description that most people have in any profession. Let's face it, it's probably less than those who work and care for their home.  It is manageable,  granted that you don't have many distractions (other than children ;)).  So I said to myself, "Paige, what's the most important thing(s) you need to do everyday?"  Answer? School kids and feed family.  If nothing else gets done...oh well!  It can always be made up.  Stressfully at times, but whatever.  Such is life.  Ok, so back to the big P...Ive got 4 hours every 8 to get stuff done.  That's pretty good news for me.  School is done twice a day.  Morning and afternoon. 3 hours in the morning, 1+ hour in the afternoon. (This will fluctuate from week to week and every year of course but the boys are required to be outside for at least an hour a day.  Three hours in the spring/summer.)  So I've got 4-5 hours every morning before lunch to get (everyone) dressed, make beds, eat breakfast, school the boys for the morning portion, read to them and myself, start laundry, put away a load (easy), tidy up school room (put away books, colors, papers, etc.)  Eat lunch.  Relax!!  Yay!  My productivity is high and I've still got 3-4 hours left.  We read, snuggle, nap, play, do dishes sometimes, and start more laundry in the next two hours.  Then prep for dinner and school some more between 2pm and 3pm.  I've got the next 8 hours to accomplish very little and maybe even catch up on Instagram, phone calls, texts, and exercise.

So maybe that was a little too much information, but I was very encouraged by this and thought I'd share.  Breaking things up for me helps my mind work hard and consequently rest.  It also frees up time for me to serve in our church, and craft if I ever do learn.  It frees me up to say yes to my hubby and friends if they need me to do something from time to time. It's like budgeting in a way.  Squeeze your money and it ends up working for you!  (Read a Dave Ramsey book if you have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Of course this is all bounced off the question of "Am I redeeming the time?" One of the main and simple questions I always try to ask myself...
     
I'm interested if anyone else think along these lines.  What works for you? 
        
   
     

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Etc.

Well I'm finally getting around to posting about why no more Facebook, or at least, very little Facebook for muah.  First off, this is not a brown nosed judgmental post.  This is my journey, not yours.  I don't pretend to be you, and surely you don't pretend to be me.  Thanks.  That sounds harsh.  I mean.... I really don't look down upon anyone who uses it.  I don't make it my concern, really.  I love all the people on my friends list.  This is just my reasons for not going on.  :)  Now on to my explanation....

Facebook was starting to interfere with some things in my life.  1) Paying attention to my kids.  You know when your kid starts saying "Mom" 4 times before you respond.  Yeah.   2) Wasting time and not allowing me to get done what I need to, which is always growing as my family is growing. House chores, schooling, reading.  It was a cocktail of the sorts.  3)  Paying attention to doing what was good for my marriage.  Kyle means the world to me.  I'd really like to spend most days with him.  All day.  My soul cherishes him and my actions were not reflecting that, so pretty much it had to go.  This is why:  I was checking out what my friends were thinking and doing.  Now I think its great that I CAN do this, but not at the expense of my responsibilities.  Lets face it, I've got four kids.  I home school.  I want to feed our mouths good food for lots of reasons (I'll post about that another time.) I want to play with my kids, I have to manage our home.  Sounds like plenty to do.  Yup.  It is.  4) The ironic part was that most of my friends were posting good things.  Like, Scripture and edifying things.  Why would I want to delete that from my life?  Well, I'll tell you.  Remember when you used to peek at your friends artwork in the 3rd grade and compare if you were "up to par?" And your friend always had a more artsy and creative picture than you.  It's KINDA like that.  And basically, it wasn't me!  I'm so tired of trying to be other people.  I'm tired of living through others' glasses.  I want to be who God would have me to be.  I want to use my spare time to learn new things and pray for people I think about.  I want to search the library and Internet on how to love God through my talents and inclinations.  And then share.  With you.  Or my friends.  5)  In my estimation, its become a marketplace for consumption, discontent, and rubbish (with exception to all my awesome friends who post edifying things and cute pictures of babies!) The problem is, I'm not in that market right now.  I may be more inclined in 10 years to meander on it more, but in the mean time, I can't.  My time is more precious than I realize and I want my actions to reflect that.  6) I don't want my kids to think that its normative to be on the phone all day.  I did'nt grow up with that, and I think that was a great thing.  Our family motto is....well we have a lot, but one of them is....less is best.  For everything really, but that only applies to certain things (I'm digging myself in a hole here) and this is one of those things. 

About Instagram, I like it and don't like it.  I love that I can speed through my "feed" in less than five minutes, catch up with friends, and turn it off.  And this is exactly what I do.  I don't waste time on it.  I don't browse that much. If I do, its in the evening, and sometimes with my hubs.  A fun thing to do together. It's a abbreviated social network.  I love that this picture taking mama can document life and save it!  Enough said.  I don't care too much what others think of my posts, I do them for my family and kin, and for friends far away (as a keeping in touch, if you will). I don't like all the pictures.  Sounds stupid, right?  I know.  I plead the woman card on this and claim to have existing contradicting beliefs simultaneously.  There.  What I really mean is that our culture has dumbed down in the form of illiteracy.  Figuratively and literally.  People don't read for information anymore, people look at pictures.  It's like a LEGO instruction booklet.  Its cross cultural, and that's great, but its probably not good for your noggin'.  Remember what your teachers and parents used to say about reading?  It's true.  It's good for you. 

Twitter is..well, I have no idea what it is.  And I don't care.  I'm sure there is plenty  of other networks out there, but I've never heard of them.

Love ya!