ListPlanIt

I have an organizational website filled with lists and planning pages. While I use these lists myself and feel ever so grateful to have them available to me, what I really need is two more of myself. Each of us would have a full plate of responsibilities. Each one of us would squeeze as much out of our day as possible. At night, we would go to bed knowing that we had been productive, done our jobs to the best of our abilities, and accomplished much. The responsibilities would be distributed as follows:

• One position calls for a Homemaker Me. She would prepare at least 2 different breakfasts (one child wants oatmeal while another wants toast) in the morning, possibly 3 different lunches, 1 dinner, and provide numerous snacks throughout the day. She would dress all the children in the morning to take all the kids to the bus stop in every kind of weather and pick the kids up later in the afternoon. She would plan menus and buy the groceries. She would make sure the family had not only clean clothes, but also that said clothes could be found in family members’ own drawers. Dishes, floors, wood surfaces, sinks and toilets would all fall under Homemaker Me’s duties. Homemaker Me would record every transaction, keep books balanced, and would have the added responsibility of wondering how to pay every bill or expense that appears.
• The other position is for a Work Me. She would balance books, answer phones and emails, advertise services and products, strengthen business by attending courses, make goals, see clients, mail packages, develop and maintain the website and online content, write articles, travel to business conferences or trade shows, and figure out what exactly SEO (search engine optimization) means.
• The rest would be left up to me. Maybe then I could play with my children without the guilt of other tasks hanging over my head. I would be happy to drive them to soccer practice and games, help them with their homework, or point out the different varieties of trees on long walks in the woods. I would be able to watch movies with my husband or have long conversations like we did before the children came. I could occasionally read a book, go shopping alone, jog or go to the gym, or even work on organizing the growing number of photos into photo albums or scrapbooks. Holiday and Birthday planning would be a breeze with no long list of tasks standing in my way.

I don’t think science will ever be able to provide clones of myself in my lifetime. In the meantime, I will just strive to improve on how I manage my time and responsibilities so that I can accomplish all of the tasks at hand.

Jennifer Tankersley is the creator of ListPlanIt where you can find 400 lists and planning pages including cleaning schedules, daily to do lists, grocery lists, and holiday/party planning to put your world in order.