Order of Operation

When it comes to doing the important things in life first. . .I'm not very good. What I am good at is finding "good" things to do instead of the necessary thing. I always seem to have time to check my email or peruse Pinterest, but I never have time to clean the house really well or read a good book, not to mention scripture study.

We were watching a General Conference talk yesterday and it was basically about choosing to do those things that will lead to exaltation, rather than the things that eat up your time and take you away from the activities that invite the spirit and foster growth. I actually walked in toward the end of the talk, but Ben lovingly offered to rewind it for me. I declined and told him that I got the gist. While I only heard a short part of the talk (and I couldn't even tell you who was speaking) I knew that I needed to make a change. So, last night I made myself an order of operations list. I wrote down the things that I do or need to do in a day/week/month. Then I prioritized them. Here's my list. . .

1. Read scriptures
2. Do a load of laundry
3. Prepare for dinner
4. Go running
5. Tidy up the house
6. Make visiting teaching appointments
7. Primary stuff
8. Zone cleaning (flylady.com)
9. Read/Play with kids
10. Yard work
11. Watch a conference talk
12. Read a book or Ensign
13. Scrapbooking
14. Check email
15. Blog post
16. Pinterest
17. Facebook
18. TV

My thought was that if I had something visual it might be easier for me to do the important things first. Now, I realize that playing with the kids is more important than cleaning. However, they are at school most of the day, so that is why they are below laundry, cleaning and running. Some of the things are just so I spend some time doing them i.e. reading and zone cleaning. Some of them aren't things I will do every day, but I'd like to do at least once a week. . .scrapbooking, and blogging. I put visiting teaching appointments so high on the list, because if I have to work on that before doing some of the other things it might actually get done (I'm not a very good visiting teacher).

Today was my first day. I think I did pretty well! The kids were home from school so I didn't get to go running. I did get a lot of cleaning done, though. I also studied the scriptures and even got to watch a conference talk. It was a lovely and productive day. I know the kids enjoyed the extra attention they got. It made them a happier crew. . .which makes me a happier mom. I think I'm going to print out my list and laminate it so I can check things off as I go. Yes, I'm going to do that . . .then it will be even more visual. . .and I do like putting a check next to things that I've done. :) I figure, if it gets me one step closer to being more spiritual. . .it's worth it, right?

As a side note. . .Our decision to not watch TV during the week has been one of the best decisions we've made for our family. It was incredibly difficult at first. I was so used to having them sit in front of the TV for some quiet time. Since we started our plan, the kids have learned to play with each other. It's so great! They love to go outside and they will play upstairs for hours. Bella would occasionally ask if she could watch a show, but the boys have never whined or whimpered a bit. It was most definitely the hardest for me to adjust. But now, I'm loving it!