With a new school year here, on this episode of Spawned, we’re taking a close look at 5 popular time-management techniques from experts, to compare them, debate the merits, and describe how they can work best for parents.
If you’ve been wrangling a never-ending to-do list, or you just want some more time to spend time with the people you love, we think you’ll appreciate these expert time-managment techniques and a truly honest discussion about our own struggles with time and to-do lists, where we succeed and where we could be better.
(Let’s just say Liz and Kristen approach things really differently!)
Listen to this great discussion on iTunes right now (or your favorite podcasting app works too!), or click right here to listen. And be sure you’ve subscribed to our show on iTunes so you never miss an episode.
Thanks for listening!
5 Expert Time-Management Techniques We Discuss
Take a listen to our show to hear more about each of these techniques
1. The Pomodoro Technique by Francisco Cirillo
Basic premise: Use a timer for your tasks, giving yourself 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break, then repeat, adding longer breaks the longer you go. The premise is that a strict timeline helps you crank through projects faster and avoid burnout.
It’s also now described in a brand new book, The Pomodoro Technique: The Acclaimed Time-Management System That Has Transformed How We Work (shown at top)
And here’s someone who’s used this technique with kids
2. The WADE Formula by Julie Morgenstern
Basic premise: The WADE acronym stands for
-Write it down
-Add it up
-Decide (Delete, Delay, Diminish, Delegate)
-Execute Your Plan.
3. How to Avoid Procrastination by Christine Hassler
Basic Premise: It helps you understand the psychology of why you’re not getting things done, by asking yourself three simple questions and writing down the answers:
1. Where are you now?
2. Where do you need to go?
3. What is in the way? to help you look at the psychology of why you’re not getting stuff done.
(This works really well for Liz!)
4. Schedule Everything by Joe Matthews, Don Debolt, and Deb Percival in Entrepreneur Magazine
Basic Premise: Take 30 minutes each morning to schedule your entire day. That includes time for your thoughts and conversations, not just actions. This way you really account for all your time and don’t get squeezed with that off-the-calendar time you need to just think or talk with people.
5. The Carpool Technique by Peter Turla
Basic Premise: Establish a specific time you’re going to quit your day and then work backwards from there. The title comes from his idea that you imagine that you must catch a carpool home, and if you miss it, you won’t be able to get home. It’s a reminder that we can all use a hard out, and when we do, we can often work smarter and more efficiently.
Other links from the Show:
A quick laundry tip that could save you some time.
How to use unroll.me to help organize your email inbox.
Liz’s favorite inbox zero email tip.
About this week’s sponsor: Control with Cable
As parents, we try to keep an eye on what our kids are doing online to help keep them safe, but we can’t be over their shoulders all the time. Nor should we be!
That’s why we’re grateful for ControlWithCable.org, a site from the NCTA (The Internet & Television Association) that offers tons of helpful info about media literacy, privacy, and cyber safety, as well as parental controls of all kinds.
In fact, there are loads of free parental online controls and free parental cable TV controls that you may not even know about, all available right from your cable provider. Taking advantage of them is so easy — at least if you know what they are and how to use them.
Visit ControlWithCable.org now for helpful information, tools, and plenty of free resources to help keep families smart, knowledgable, and safe.
Our Cool Picks of the Week
Liz: She’s declaring Majestic t-shirts among the best t-shirts ever, and worth the splurge. You can find them at Nordstrom and boutiques everywhere. (The long-sleeve crew neck shown here.)
Kristen: Cardline is a fun board game for families, and with four kids, she knows from fun family games
Cool Mom Picks is an rstyle and Amazon affiliate
