Planning for the Unexpected as a Working Mom

Plans for the unexpected.

It is a subject that repeatedly comes up because as a parent, you know That things constantly change.

Something almost always comes on.

That’s why a podcast asked listener: “What is the point of even planning if you have children? If it all starts to change, isn’t that just time that you wasted, making a plan? “

I get it. A plan picks up hope. It creates a vision of how you think things will go. Then it is even more frustrating or disappointing when you have to drop the plan and change course.

These are valid questions.

Questions that I asked myself last winter when it felt like our 5 -year -old family was endlessly sick 🤒 with one virus after the other.

Somewhere along the way I decided to stop planning my days. I was fed up that my plans are never training, so I took things every day, hour after hour.

When I got home with a sick child, and even on the rare days that I wasn’t, I would just do what was of the Spirit or felt the most urgent.

After a few weeks I have to say that I felt lost. Part of that could have been normal because it was not what I was used to. But it was more than that …

I lost my focus.

I missed deadlines. I could no longer tell if I made progress. I didn’t even really know what my priorities and my goals were. I trusted my memory, let’s be honest, was not at its peak with all the stress of sick children.

However, I am happy that I did that experiment, because it taught me that a plan, even if it changes, gives you a starting place.

You know what has To be ready and what you’re used to want to To be ready.

Then you can make faster decisions about what you have to change and what you have to let go when your day suddenly goes off the rails.

If you have planned your day with meetings, projects and tasks, but then daycare centers and you have to pick up your sick child, you have a number of decisions to make:

• Can you plan your meetings again? If so, go do that!

• Is there something for which you absolutely have to be present?

• If no, let the organizer know that you are not there or let someone take your place and take notes.

• If so, can you work out virtually with your camera? Or do you need a childcare cover during that time frame? That information makes finding help easier, because you know exactly what you are asking for. (This is how my husband and I distribute days like this!)

• Do you have to let the team know when you can expect that report or delivery if today it is not productive as you thought?

If you know what should happen, you can immediately take action to resolve for the fact that you cannot work as you thought.

Having a plan is about opening your eyes open 👀 so you can see what to change, instead of just surfacing.

Although you cannot technically plan for the unexpected, there are a few things you can do to make life easier when it happens:

Think of your future self

• What can you do today to make her work easier?

• Can you think ahead and help her?

• A little earlier, get started with that project than you think you have to.

• Investigate back -up childcare options for a time when you might need them.

• Prep Dinner, even if it just chops the vegetables in advance or the pot of water for later.

• You love your future self and want the best for her, so while your schedule is According to plan, do something for her.

  Add some “buffer time”

• This is a short time block on your agenda that can absorb a break that you did not intend.

• A task that takes longer than you thought or a last-minute request that you should ensure.

• It can also help if something bigger comes up, because this means that your day is not that full. There is room to move things when needed.

• I like to add at least one block of “buffer time” of 30 minutes every day if I can.

  Make a plan

• Make at least a sketch of your day or your week.

• Know what you should definitely do this week.

• Know what happens if, what you are going to eat for dinner and who should be true.

• This information will help you so much if something unexpected comes up, as it will do!

There will probably be some disappointment if it does not go according to plan. That makes sense! It is not what you expected when you made your plan.

But the unexpected will happen. That’s life. And that especially applies to life with children.

Having a plan that has to change does not make it worse. The plan actually helps you to pick up the pieces and find a solution faster.