Life in the fast lane, surely makes you lose your mind.

Are you there? Are you in the fast lane? Surviving in this economy is difficult enough to drive anyone bonkers, but there are a few additives that can certainly push you into overdrive.



These include:
• Being a working parent
• Caring for aging parents
• Coping with chronic illness, either yourself or a family member
• Volunteering for a charitable or non-profit organization
• Dealing with a move, "downsizing" a business or home

Does your daily or weekly schedule tie you in knots when you think about it?
So often we become victims of time - not enough of it.

Take the dog to the vet, pick up mom's prescriptions, buy snacks for lunches, prepare Sunday's menu, doctor's appointments, DMV lines, interview at 11:00am, Staff meetings, Board meetings, publicity photos, cleaning out dead files, cleaning the house or office, mowing the lawn, write a press release, setting up interviews, meet Sandy for lunch, playing phone tag, take out the chicken for dinner, taking Dad to the Senior Center, Kids need physicals to play sports, PTA meetings, out of toilet paper, baseball practice, charity dinner at the church, packing this room then that, and the ever popular and never done - laundry...

The list could go on and on. I was starting to get dizzy.

So how can we better manage our time to cover the numerous responsibilities we face every day without losing our minds? Just a few simple steps. And if you believe that...

1. Prioritize. Figure out what really needs to get done today, this morning, during the next hour. There may be some things cluttering up your plate that you can let go. Being a single parent, yard work has always been an incredible chore - a burden, really. I consistently felt like I was a failure when I would see my lack of attention in the color of my grass or at times, overgrown yard; this weighed heavily on me. So, I hired a gardener, that burden was lifted. Prioritize what you have to do, let go of what you don't.

2. Just say No. You don't have to volunteer for every church function, for every PTA carnival, or little league. Learning to say "no" is difficult but you can do it. Refer to #1 - prioritize. When I went back to school, I had to let go of some of the things I loved to do - just for a while. Saying "no" today doesn't mean you can't say yes tomorrow.

3. Let someone else do it. You don't have to do everything. It may seem that nobody can do it better or more timely than you, unless you are too busy to even get it done. There are those around you that can step up to the plate and help. Your mom, your daughter or son, your co-worker, your spouse, or neighbor. Sometimes it's really hard to ask for help, you can do it. It is ok to delegate a portion of your work or a chore, really it is. (Let's hope they didn't read #2 before you ask!)

4. Organize and plan, plan and organize. Not enough can be said about creating a schedule and then informing everyone. Use a big wall calendar or a chalkboard or a white board. Family, friends, and co-workers may be less apt to ask for help and more likely to offer it, if they see how busy you really are- plain as day. I am famous for post-it notes, they litter my desk. The trick about the post-it note is to throw it away when you accomplish the task. Out of sight, out of mind. A fait accompli...

The next time you are on a busy road, look at all the cars around you... Everyone is going somewhere, doing something. Every one. It is amazing to contemplate that within each car dwells a separate universe we know nothing about.
That's life in the fast lane.

by rayannethorn