22 October 2009

Productivity



I was thinking yesterday about feeling "productive." It's kinda a broad term but so many days of the week I don't feel productive enough. So, I thought about my day yesterday and here it is in a nutshell to show all of you what makes me feel "non-productive":

Got breakfast for the kids
Cleaned up kitchen from night before and morning breakfast
Got all kids dressed and ready for the day
Changed a gazillion diapers (my kids are sick and come with lots of dirty diapers)
Organized Ben's shirt drawers
Cleaned up my room and made my bed
Picked up Collette from preschool
Made lunch and cleaned up mess from lunch
Took all 4 kids to the post office for some work on my church calling~ spent way too long there!
Clean up the living/dining/family room areas
Vacuumed the carpets (more on this later)
Took all recycling out to the bins.
Took out all yucky diapers to the trash
Took trash and recycle bins to the curb
Made dinner (such a simple thing to write but so much more to do!)
Swept the kitchen floor
Ironed Ben and Gabe's church shirts
Helped Abigail with her homework
Did 2 loads of laundry
Cleaned up the girls' room
Picked up Ben's room
Went on a walk with the family (Joel is finally home here)
Bathed kids (with Joel's help)
Got kids to bed (with Joel's help)
Fed Gabe twice during the night (when the 24 hour clock stop??)

There may be more but that's what I could come up with quickly. So...why don't I feel productive?? Does anyone else have this problem?

I was trying to answer the question and this is what I could come up with:

I never got a shower yesterday. Therefore, never really felt clean and ready for the day.

We have gross carpets. So even when I vacuum, it doesn't look like I did.

As soon as I put something away, something else gets destroyed. You should have seen my house by the end of the day... it looked like I never cleaned anything up all day long.

It feels like someone who works at a job and say...writes a report and then the manager comes along and says, great, then deletes it all and then says, "Could you just rewrite that since you have nothing better to do?" EVERY DAY

Thanks for letting me vent. Again.

8 comments:

  1. What's so funny is Cynthia Lee and I were talking about this very thing about a week ago, and she said the exact same thing. She was saying her husband wasn't getting what she "does all day" and she compared it to working all day long on a really big project at work, only to find it's been completely deleted while you were out to lunch. Except we never actually go to lunch as a mom. I also think there are so many little things I do for myself in a day, that if they don't get done, my day doesn't necessarily feel "unproductive" but just worse. Like getting a shower in (uninterrupted shower!) or reading my scriptures, or just plain checking the news on the internet. So I totally relate.

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  2. Sweet mercy, Laura! You did A LOT. I feel your pain though; this is a thankless job a lot of times.

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  3. You are not alone! I have done this list before when feeling unproductive, and am always amazed at how many things we do, and how it still feels unproductive most of the time. Hang in there!

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  4. I can totally relate to this. Being a mother is crazy busy and it's hard to see any progress most days. Hang in there. Honestly it helps me a lot to know that I'm not the only one feeling this way.

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  5. Wow! You were a superwoman yesterday! That's a lot more than I "got done."

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  6. ok I went on strike and started making my kids clean up their own messes. If they spill cereal, they wipe it up, if they get toys out they clean it up, if they spill while getting water, they wipe it up, etc. etc. etc. It takes a lot of nagging, but they get the picture and I always say "I am not the maid." This way I don't keep doing the same things over and over. Make your kids vacuum, have more chores, clear, wash and load their own dishes, help make lunches and dinner, clear the dinner table, bathe themselves,do the laundry, etc. etc. It will work for your older 2 because it does for mine and they are the same ages. Good luck. Remember delegate!!! (That includes Joel).

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  7. I have an idea. Just sit on the couch and do nothing..... then you will feel really great about what you did do! :) I completely relate. I think that a mothers job is never done....

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