Let’s face it, we can’t have it all. But we have some tips you can use to project manage yourself to make having it all a bit easier!
It can be pretty harmful to assume you can “have it all.” Let’s face it, we don’t actually have the same 24 hours in a day as high-profile celebrities like Beyoncé or the Kardashians. They have an actual staff to keep them fit, hydrated, fed, clothed, and in the right place at the right time. You have to be your own staff, and maybe you also have to be the staff for kids or other family members too.
With that in mind, there are a few ways in which you can borrow tips from your work self to copy/paste onto your personal self to help you feel more organized in every area of your life.
Break Down Big Projects Into Simpler Tasks
Remember the last time you went on a vacation? You had to pack, clean the house, give the petsitter instructions, and finish a big project for work the day before you departed for your trip. We’ve all been there trying to get this list done, but there’s so much to do you can’t even get started. You’ll have to stay up all night to get everything done.
Now imagine you have a vacation coming up, but you don’t want the 48 hours before departure to be absolute chaos like it was last time, so you tackle your to-do list like your work self would take on a project at work. Over two weeks, you broke down what you needed to do into smaller tasks, including: choosing your outfits in advance and knowing what you were going to pack, writing out instructions for your pet sitter, printing tickets and trip itineraries, eating through the perishables in your fridge, and having that project complete at least a day in advance. Now you’re leisurely packing your suitcase, baseboards gleaming, and getting excited about your vacation!
This can work with any big task, such as spring cleaning, getting out of debt, or saving money! How would you expect your team to handle a big project? Wait until the last minute and stay up all night to complete it? No! Chip away at it in manageable pieces, and everyone will be much more satisfied.
Define Requirements
In her article “How to Project Manage Your Life,” Sarah M. Hoban recommends understanding the scope of your personal projects the same way you would your work projects, except this time, the person who sets the expectations is you. That can be hard! But never understanding the scope of your wishes can lead to never taking a step towards making them come true.
For example, imagine you’ve always wanted to learn Spanish. Would you then go buy an advanced medical textbook in Spanish and become disheartened that you couldn’t read a word?
Chances are, if you want to learn Spanish for traveling purposes or to maintain casual friendships, you’ll never need those big medical words anyway. What you probably need are greetings, ordering food, asking people about themselves, and talking about yourself.
Suddenly the scope seems a lot more manageable.
If you’re not a native speaker, stop expecting yourself to sound like a native Spanish speaker. Just learn the words that are required, and then see if you can keep building on that. (If you actually want to learn Spanish, or any other language, there are numerous amazing teachers on YouTube!)
Before you decide that something’s too hard, too expensive, too time-consuming… make sure you know exactly what you’re looking to get out of it. You just might find that when you tailor something to your actual goals, it is much more achievable.
Use Your Tech
There’s no shortage of apps to help you stay organized! But plugging your to-dos into a calendar doesn’t need to stop at work. It doesn’t matter how simple the task, you can set a reminder for it. You can set a recurring Google Calendar notification every April 3rd to clean your gutters. Then you don’t have to think about it for an entire year. “Apply flea meds.” “Return bowl to Joyce.” “Make dentist appointment.” Listen, your Google Calendar (or whatever app you prefer) isn’t judging you. (But your dentist might if you keep having to reschedule appointments!)
If you have an iPhone, you can ask Siri to remind you to do something when you arrive home. (Siri knows when you’re home. And she probably knows where you parked your car, too.) Most smartphones have similar functions. If we’re going to have this technology, we might as well use it to help streamline our responsibilities. Moving the thought out of your head frees up space for you to think about other things, too. Win-win.
Plan Your Planning
In her article “Run Your Personal Life Like a Project Manager,” Amanda Pressner Kreuser suggests setting aside fifteen minutes sometime during the week to write down everything you must accomplish over the week. That means everything from determining how many birthday cards you need to send this month to envisioning house projects. Set this as a recurring calendar event––and don’t skip it. You’ll soon feel so on top of your home life, you’ll deserve a promotion.
You got this!