Keeping yourself organized when you’re a busy caregiver might mean that you need your own planning system. They sound complicated, but they’re really not.
Make Sure You Check Your Calendar Daily
Even the best memories can’t hold onto every single appointment, task, and event. If you’re not already using a calendar daily, you need to be doing so. Once you start using one, whether it’s paper or digital, you need to get into the habit of making sure that you check it at least twice a day. Checking in the morning ensures you don’t miss anything that day and checking in the evening helps you spot issues for the next day.
Pad Your Schedule a Bit
When you’re scheduling appointments and events, pad your schedule. That gives you a chance to breathe in between everything you have to do. People also tend to forget about travel time when it comes to appointments, which is a big cause for starting your day on time and later on running late.
Get Super Realistic about Each Day
You have got to be realistic about your time and your energy levels each day. As much as you might want to do all the things on your task list, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to hit that mark. Respect your own time enough to stop overscheduling yourself when you know you’re not going to be able to do it all.
Multitasking Slows You Down
People think that multitasking is the way to get more and more done. But more and more research shows that multitasking slows your brain down. As you switch from one task to another, you lose both time and attention and that affects your productivity. If you focus on one task and one issue at a time, you’re going to get a lot more done.
Brain Dumps Are Your Friends
Brain dumping is an activity in which you take a blank piece of paper and simply write down everything that you’ve got rolling around in your head. This might be upcoming appointments, appointments you need to make, or notes about something you want to research. Get it all out of your head and on paper. Then you can start scheduling those tasks and items instead of letting them distract your brain.
Having a planning system as a caregiver keeps you on task but it also ensures that you’re balancing your life the way you need to. When you’re devoting regular time to scheduling your time wisely, you’ll be able to see where your problems are and where you can start to put solutions in place.
IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING CAREGIVERS IN ROCKY MOUNT, NC, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT SENIORS HELPING SENIORS TODAY. CALL (919) 761-5346.