Finding your focus in a busy life
Sally made a New Year’s resolution to get the kids to help more around the house. They all sat down together as a family and made a work chart. They outlined the jobs and everyone knew exactly what their assignments would be for the week. Sally was elated that now her household would run smoothly and everyone would become a functional part the whole.
“This family will glide along like a smoothly oiled machine–every part doing its job,” her husband announced.
“It’ll be like a Wall Street business, and I’ll be chairman of the board,” Sally told him.
The first week all the kids completed their tasks so they had a pizza party at the end of the week. But the second week Sarah Jane (age 12) got strep throat and couldn’t clean her bathrooms. James (age 10) decided he didn’t want to vacuum and dust the living room if Sarah Jane didn’t have to do her work. Bailey (age 6) slept over a friend’s house twice during the week and was too tired to empty the garbage.
The next Monday Sally sat at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. What could she do? She had to be at work in an hour. The bathrooms smelled, you could write your name in the dust on the piano, and the wastebaskets over-flowed in every room of the house.
As she scrolled through her phone, she came upon a quote by Will Rogers that described what she was going through.
Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
Here was her answer. She couldn’t just sit and do nothing, even though she felt like she had been run over this past week. She decided to take action.
1. That night after dinner she called a family meeting to discuss the problem.
2. Sally listened to everyone’s suggestions (and excuses.)
3. Sally didn’t budge from the job chart the family had created.
4. The family recommitted to get back to work.
5. At the end of the week when they completed their jobs, they went to a movie together.
How did Sally keep from getting run over? She:
1. Shared her problem.
2. Listened.
3. Found a solution.
4. Followed through with her plan.
5. Enjoyed a reward after the work was done.
Have fun setting goals this New Year, but don’t allow yourself to get run over when you’re on the right road. If you and your family get side tracked (and we all do), recommit yourself to begin again. Take action and refocus.
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Christy Monson established a successful counseling practice in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Her books, Love, Hugs, and Hope: When Scary Things Happen, and Becoming Free: A Woman’s Guide To Internal Strength are publ… Read More
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