It's great having routines in place and our own systems for being organized, both at home and at work.  But how do you deal with interruptions and things that throw you off course?  An unexpected phone call, a breakdown (your car, your washing machine, you!)  Well, you identify it as a situation where you have to make a decision, and as much as possible you do that decision making in advance, in other words, you allow for interruptions and decide how you will deal with them at different times.

Some interruptions, like your car breaking down, just have to be accepted.  There's no point stressing, you just get on the phone if you can and let whoever needs to know what's happened. 

Others though, shouldn't be allowed to throw you off track.  If you have important work or study you're doing, and there's a phone call, someone wants to ask for your help, or something comes up that can be done at another time, it's OK to say that you'll speak to them later or you'll do it later, because you're busy at the moment.  You're allowed to make yourself unavailable!

Interruptions from children are another matter though.  Older kids are capable of understanding that you have certain times when it's your time and you're 'off duty'.  It's easier for them to accept this if you allocate times when you are fully available to them.  Don't bother trying to do anything important when they come home from school, schedule it for another time.  With little ones, as any of you who have them know, you're always on duty.  Arrange some childcare or babysitting or regular help if you can.  For the rest of the time it can be very hard to do anything other than light housework.  Don't expect too much of yourself while you're looking after young children.  It really is an important job all on its own.  If when they're sleeping is the only time you get a break, avoid using all that time for work or study.  You really need some time to yourself to just relax.

If you are trying to work on a project whilst looking after children, and you're finding it hard because you only have very short bursts of time when they're quietly playing, and you're keeping an eye on them, keep a big pad of paper and a pen handy, and do your work on paper first.  It's hard to think clearly with all the nappies and feeding and tripping over toys, so just break everything into smaller and smaller tasks and write them down, leaving instructions for yourself that you can follow without having to think.

Sometimes we interrupt ourselves too, with opening mail, checking email, browsing the internet.  If you have set times of the day when you do these things, it helps avoid using them as excuses to avoid what you decided to do at that time.

Plan your days in advance, and stick to what you've planned as much as possible.  If you can end each day feeling like you achieved something, and knowing you spent time on each of the areas you decided you would, you'll enjoy how that feels, and it will inspire you to do it again tomorrow.

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