I have often felt like becoming a mom came with a case of attention deficit disorder. I can't seem to focus on one task at a time and get it done, whether it's laundry, cleaning the kitchen, typing a blog post, even checking email! It's not just that kids frequently interupt me with immediate snack/potty/booboo needs. Even when they are asleep, it is hard for me to stick to one job through completion.
I have realized about myself that I am a binge worker. I work best alone, in total concentration, with no distractions, and with a deadline. This worked fine when I was in college and could hunker down 24 hrs before a paper deadline and do nothing but write. When I started working more shifts to pay the bills, my grades plummeted because I didn't have the freedom to hunker down for 24 hrs straight. And I never learned to spread my work out over time.
For me, the getting into the work-groove takes time. And if I know I will have to walk away from an unfinished job, I just don't even want to start. This is why the laundry piles up so high, as do the dishes and the mail.
I am no good at multitasking by design. I multitask by necessity--making dinner, supervising homework, while washing the teakwondo uniform needed by 4 pm. I get the immediate needs done. But I just can't seem to plan, say, 30 minutes of folding laundry, 30 minutes for cleaning bathrooms, 30 minutes for sorting mail and papers, etc. I can't make myself do it. I want to take a 5 hour block and get one job DONE.
My husband would say, too bad. Suck it up. Time management is a monkey on my back. That's all I got now, time to run and get the boy from Kindergarten!
