With the majority of us now living, working and attending (or teaching) school from our homes, it’s become increasingly difficult to achieve the elusive work-life balance. Dining rooms now double as home offices, classrooms are now being run out of kitchens and, let’s face it, quarantine clutter is real! Organizing our lives and homes during COVID-19 is a challenge.
Productivity specialist Lisa Woodruff joined Tri Deltas for a LEADDD U keynote on Saturday, Sept. 12, to share how to be more productive with your time while making the home function for life, work and school. Lisa is the founder and CEO of Organize 365 where she provides physical and motivational resources teaching busy women to take back control of their lives with functional systems that work.
During her keynote, Lisa shared that according to Pew Research Center, the average American family spends 26 hours a week on housework. Traditionally, the bulk of those chores often falls to women who may also have to balance work (whether paid or unpaid) with childcare and now homeschooling.
Trimming the To-Do List
Lisa encouraged everyone to reevaluate their to-do lists and their standards of keeping their homes spotless, especially in the time of COVID-19. “Does everything on your to-do list even need to be done?” she asked. “Think through how many things you’re doing in your house that you don’t even need to do anymore. How long will it be – if ever – until somebody else notices? We’re in a pandemic – no one is coming over! If there’s ever a time to let your guard down, let it down now.” Lisa also shared three questions (also known as the three “Ds”) women can ask themselves to help refine their to-do lists and free up their time:
- What can be Delegated? (What needs to be done but can be completed by someone other than yourself?)
- What can be Deferred? (What needs to done but can be completed at a later time?)
- What can be Deleted? (What can be deleted from your to-do list entirely?)
After answering these questions, whatever you have left on your list can remain a priority. For Lisa, it also helps to know exactly how much time each task takes to better schedule out chores and to stack tasks in a way that require the least amount of time to complete.
Lisa’s advice helped attendees think about their homes, and time, in ways they perhaps hadn’t considered before. And, her tips and tricks can apply to anyone, no matter their age or the size of their living space.
More on LEADDDer.org
Lisa’s LEADDD U event kicked off her exclusive multi-part course “GET ORGANIZED!” on LEADDDer.org, available to all dues-paying Tri Delta members. The course includes step-by-step instructions on building and utilizing The Sunday Basket system to organize paper and mail into actional to-do items, helping you take back control of your home and focus your energy on what needs to get done.
This course – along with other LEADDDer.org courses – was made possible thanks to support from the Mildred (Milly) Bland Miller Foundation.
For more from Lisa, be sure to check out her “GET ORGANIZED!” course on LEADDDer.org and tune into her interview on the Let’s Talk Tri Delta podcast where she shares more organization and productivity tips and tricks!