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How to Get Everything Done & Still Have Time to Play

Hey, homeschoolers! I recently read Mark Forster's book How to Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to Play and I absolutely loved it. It's been another of his books that has been life-changing for me. In this episode, I want to share principles from the book that can help you accomplish your homeschool and other goals this year and have plenty of free time too.

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Defining Everything

How can we possibly get everything done? We can't. Mr. Forster is very clear that by everything, he means everything we have decided we can and must do. Most of us are trying to do way too much–too many curricula, too many activities, even too many fun things. Until we limit the number of tasks and projects and commitments we take on, we will continue to struggle.

With that caveat out of the way, let's talk about the struggle to get everything done. I would say that all my life I have had the same issue: I do a good job accomplishing a few top priorities, but everything else seems to get put on the back burner until it becomes a crisis. For example, when I create a task plan for the week, quarter, or year, writing curriculum like Training Aliens or preparing for a Great Homeschool Convention is the top priority. Publishing this podcast is the next highest priority. But what about social media? That gets pushed aside along with website changes and home projects and I don't even want to talk about taxes! I have a feeling you can relate.

Approaches for Getting Everything Done

For you, maybe it's math and English that are prioritized, meaning that science experiments, foreign language, or art get put off.

I've shared before about loop scheduling being a great option for this. You have a day or a time block that you assign two or more activities to. Then you loop or rotate through them in order. If last time you did a science experiment, then today you'd do foreign language.

Theme days are another way of dealing with these lower priorities. If you never get around to decluttering your art supplies, you might dedicate Saturdays to decluttering. Or you dedicate the last day of the month to deep cleaning.

These approaches have worked for me for a time. But when I missed enough of my looping or theme days, I would usually determine that I needed to give up the activity altogether and focus on my top priorities. The negative cycle would begin again.

Enter Mark's book, which sets the stage with a fairy tale. Story-based inspiration? I'm here for it. This fairy tale has the hero, Hans, seeking wisdom for getting things done so he can focus on his top priority–winning the princess's hand in marriage. I found myself relating to Hans as he tried many recommended approaches to getting things done. They worked for a while and then led to the same problem of lower priority tasks becoming a crisis. Poor Hans struggled to be successful AND win the princess.

The Get Everything Done Approach

Enter Mark Forster as our wise guide. He suggests an approach that reminds me of what I had recommended years ago in a blog post I called How to Homeschool in an Hour a Day.

The idea is that you make a list of the top projects or life areas that you want to give attention to. This should not exceed 10 areas or projects. Homeschoolers can include the subject areas you want to cover in your day. But you would also include a home category with things like organizing, and hobbies you want to make take time for. Those of you who want to start a business would list a project for it as well.

My initial list included Writing Training Aliens Curriculum, Podcast publishing, Business Administration, Other Work Projects, and Social Media. I had a home and family category and a personal one. Before beginning to use your list for the day, Mark recommends having a task or checklist that you want to accomplish for each project or area. I missed that recommendation when I began using the approach, however.

Once you have your list of areas or projects written, you will write the number 5 next to each. You will then set a timer for 5 minutes and dedicate that time to the first area on your list. Mark mentions that you may be using that first 5 minutes to clarify your plan for that project. I set a timer and looked over my notes for writing a Training Aliens lesson. When the timer goes off, you cross off the number 5 and write the number 10 next to it. You will then reset the timer and proceed to work for 5 minutes on the next area on your list.

When you have dedicated 5 minutes to each area on your list, you will go back to the top and will work for 10 minutes on each area. When you have finished what you want to do for that area, Mark recommends writing a 5 next to that area. If you still have work to accomplish, you will increase the time by 5 minutes for each pass you make until you hit 40 minutes. After working for 30 minutes total (and not after finishing a task), Mark tells us to stop what we're doing and take a 5 minute break.

This may sound confusing, but the bottom line is that we do a short burst of work on multiple areas throughout the day, adding 5 minutes to the time we work on each pass through.

The advantages of this approach are:

  • Resistance is minimized because we only have to do 5 minutes on a project to start. This is especially powerful if we have been putting off working on something.
  • Every area of our homeschool and lives is given at least some attention during the day. The quick shifts to new activities keep our motivation high as opposed to having large time blocks on a schedule.
  • We take advantage of the End Effect. By stopping when the timer goes off and not when we have finished a task, we feel the natural pull to return to it. When we do return to it, our resistance is further minimized because we feel the advantage of having already started it, even if for only a few minutes.
  • This approach is effective when dealing with interruptions. If you're interrupted for a long period, at least you've already accomplished something in multiple areas. If you're interrupted for a short time, you simply return to the list where you left off.

One of the things that makes this approach so powerful is its adaptability. Mark gives many variations of the approach, using a smaller number of areas and different timing options. There isn't a wrong way to do it.

Here is what I learned using this approach.

  • First, I needed to return to using a focused time block for writing curriculum. Curriculum writing is still a top priority and I don't struggle to dedicate a couple of morning hours to it. I decided that I wouldn't use the Get Everything Done approach until I had finished writing a lesson. There may be areas of your homeschool that you don't want to change. I likely wouldn't include our Bible time or our read aloud time in this process because motivation wasn't an issue for these.
  • Second, I realized that my resistance to some other areas wasn't so high that I needed a 5-minute burst to start. I had tried beginning the day by starting where I left off the previous day with 20-minute bursts. I didn't like that, so I tried 10-20-30 minute daily bursts instead and I liked it a lot. I felt I was done with some areas after just two bursts and could limit the areas I was spending 30 minutes on. I recommend experimenting with different times for you and getting feedback from the kids.
  • Third, I realized that I wanted to put the areas in a different order based on my current routine and also giving me a break. I am doing physical therapy exercises for shoulder pain and realized that doing those after a couple of computer-based projects made sense. I positioned the Personal category such that it would be another break for me. I wouldn't have to take separate breaks after every 30 minutes of work.
  • Fourth, I discovered by accident that I loved choosing the activity as I worked instead of preplanning them. Preplanning the activities could become a schedule that I might rebel against after a time. Instead, I have a separate list of potential tasks in my task manager for each area. For example, when the Podcast area is up, I might decide to invite someone who's been on my wish list to be a guest. For the Home and Personal areas, I allow myself to work without a list. I ask myself what I feel like doing. It might be cleaning out my bathroom cabinet for Home and reading a book for Personal. I also counted interruptions as bursts in that area. Service calls were marked as a Home burst, even though it was out of order.
  • Finally, this approach has helped break through my procrastination and has me feeling on top of everything I want to do. That's remarkable. I do have a stopping time in the evening. But in the future, I may try continuing to use bursts with a limited or different list. It could help me engage in more productive pursuits than screen time in the evenings.

As you consider trying this, think about using it for skill practice for you or your kids. Practice piano or foreign language for 5 minutes and then 10 minutes until you've met the daily goal. This approach would also work beautifully for exercise. I am not using it for that purpose because it's already a scheduled habit for me. But it would be a relatively painless way of building the habit.

Conclusion

How to Get Everything Done & Still Have Time to Play is a quick and engaging read. I highly recommend it and giving it a try. It would be an engaging experiment for kids and teens, and may be especially useful for those with ADD. I wrote about many approaches like this in my book A Year of Living Productively. Thanks again to Now Programs for sponsoring the podcast.

Have a happy homeschool week!

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Author: Dr. Mel

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