Tag Archives: how to

How to manage a million tasks

OK, I can’t promise you that, but I have got a principle that can help.

If your home is anything like mine, there are a million little jobs that need doing, and they just keep on coming. We can try and manage all that by just chipping away at them here and there, multi-tasking, squeezing in jobs wherever we can… but that’s exhausting.

Multi-tasking is a myth by the way – it doesn’t make you more productive, it just makes you feel more productive. Really you’re constantly switching between tasks, and all that switching takes mental time, and a lot of mental energy. (Not convinced? Read more here or here.)

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How to reset the family dynamic

Sometimes you just get into an unhealthy pattern of relating at home. Maybe it’s been a hard week (/month/year), maybe there’s been some hurt and disappointment, maybe the kids have been behaving like little… delights… and you’ve lost your rag with them one too many times.

Whatever the root cause, you can find yourself in the middle of grouchiness on every side.

We were there this week: meanness, hurtful words, withering eye rolls, thunderous frowns… the whole complement of grumpiness. And then there were the kids.

It reminds me of Paul’s warning against “biting and devouring” one another in Galatians 5:15. Or as The Passion Translation puts it:

But if you continue to criticize and come against each other over minor issues, you’re acting like wild beasts trying to destroy one another!

Wild beasts indeed.
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How to avoid the dreaded toy aisle

I hate the term “life hack”, though I’m not too sure why. Perhaps because it’s one of those modern constructions that sound so important when really previous generations were getting along fine without. And perhaps because it feeds into that myth that there’s somehow a better way to be doing everything, and it’s all the same way…. like that phrase “parenting (or whatever) done RIGHT” that I see bandied around on the internet. There is no RIGHT here, people.

Possibly I’m just a bit oversensitive to this because I’m resisting my innate urge to do things RIGHT. I’m a 1 on the Enneagram, and I am constantly looking to improve. This is a soul-wearying task when it’s playing out unhealthily, but when you’re healthy it can actually be a super power.

So in the spirit of that super power, I thought I’d offer a few of my favourite life hacks. Suggestions for a better term are greatly appreciated.
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