7.29.2007

Getting Ahead




























" When you have time, you do things for times when you don't have any time". 


This is what my Grandmother taught me. 

The idea, in my words, is to get ahead that is, the 6 P principle. Prior Preparation and Planning Prevent Poor Performance. So... how does this work in real life ? Well...

Have a planning day. On my planning day I usually write out my menu plan based on our family schedule for the following week. I then write my shopping list from that plan. I also work out what I will wear for the whole working week (Tuesday to Friday ) and get those clothes ready. I also organise school uniforms ( although we still need to wash and iron through the week because the boys only have two shirts and two sets of trousers)

Have a cooking day. This can be simply 40 minutes of your time that you set aside for the purposes of getting ahead. I often make up a triple batch of cookie mixture ( usually Anzac biscuits) and only cook a few. I then roll the rest of the dough into balls and freeze. That way I can have fresh biscuits at 10 minutes notice. This picture is what they look like when they come out of the freezer. I just lay them on the tray and they still spread nicely, even if they are frozen solid.


Look Ahead: Don't spend today working on something that you need tomorrow. Anticipate your needs. Look at your calendar for next week or next month and do today what is required in the future. That way, if something happens and your time doesn't go to plan you can be at peace because you already have yourself organised. Believe me- if you can win at this one, it brings great peace but when you don't do it you are so cranky with yourself for leaving things to the last minute!
If you can get ahead, the rest time that you have will feel great! You can sit back and watch a movie, go out with friends or have a weekend away knowing that you don't have any black clouds hanging over you because you have the peace of being ahead. So next time you go to do something, think of what you can tack onto that job to " get ahead".

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