When I teach best practices on increasing your personal productivity, I challenge individuals to think about the things they do at home BEFORE leaving for the office. Check out Part I of this topic.
When we have surprises in our schedules, we experience chaos and feel disorganized. And too often this comes at the end of a long day, when everyone at home is tired and hungry. If you haven’t planned ahead for what to have for dinner, then your chances of grabbing fast food or ordering in pizza increases. Which, as we all know, isn’t always the healthy option we really desire not to mention how hard it is on the budget.
Many times people remark, “It isn’t that I can’t cook. It’s just that I don’t know what to cook.” If that is the case, I suggest that you sit down with a blank calendar grid and come up with a 2-week rotation of meals. Choose recipes that can be made ahead of time, doubled and/or frozen. If you have kids old enough to help with dinner preparation, assign them a few things they can do when they get home from school. Sometimes the scrubbing and/or chopping of vegetables or the making of a salad will save a lot of time in addition to giving others ownership in the dinner process.
So much of being organized and productive involves preparation. So if it’s 3 in the afternoon and you’re wondering (again) what to have for dinner, take a few minutes and do some planning. Be sure to involve your family members by asking them what their favorite dishes are. You just might be surprised to hear things like pancakes or waffles!
