This is the state of the American Home. I've been thinking "Where have all the leaders in the workforce gone?" Then I was like "Wait, where have all the Gen Xer's gone?" They haven't gone anywhere! There are just fewer of us than the previous generation. Now the question is, what changes will Gen X create to accommodate the increasing cognitive load?

Generational Patterns

So where the Gen Xer's are now, is in overload. I feel like I'm planning everything and there is more to focus on and I feel overwhelmed. I don't remember my mom having these struggles. Why do I feel overwhelmed? I found out it's because there are fewer people carrying the same load. Gen Xer's are caregiving for their children, maybe a parent, and possibly a grandparent. What I have learned about Gen X is there are considerably less of us than there are Baby Boomers and about the same amount as the Millenials. Other countries have been reporting a decrease in newer generations populations too. We are living longer which is resulting in stacking of generations. And the birth rate is lower due to an increase in infertility, people waiting longer to get married, and high divorce rate. So we are not "replenishing" ourselves in abundance.

Each generation has their own patterns that impact the economy. And this change in reproduction is having an impact on the main care giver. During COVID we saw many women take a step back from work to take care of their families and that is often the case. This too affects where all the Gen Xer's are…taking care of their families. And due to the state of the population we are at a 1:1 rate of caretaking. There aren't extra people/relatives to help. There are fewer people carrying the same load.

Systems Are Essential

All that to put a spotlight on the fact that it used to be a luxury to automate, delegate, and delete. But, now, it's becoming essential. We need these systems in place. Because when an unexpected event comes up and you are in a caregiving role, you are only as stable as the systems you have in place and there isn't time to improve those systems in that time period.

The change we can make in our generation is to embrace AI and figure out how to automate some tasks. Appreciate your home as your refuge. I know during COVID we upgraded a few things in the house and I really love just being in my house. I also have really been wanting a home office. It dawned on me that we have had the perfect space for this all long. I will finally have the storage space and command central space I have wanted to run our home. Make your house support you so you have more capacity to support others. When you are in a caregiver role, come up with ways to still care for yourself. Don't worry about what your house was designed for, make it functional for you. And planning. I have planned more in my 50's to make sure I get time with my friends, family, work, and self care than I ever have. Value self care. The healthier that you are in every way, the more you are able to support those that are in need around you.

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I normally gloss over level one because there are so many resources for laundry, housework, and food preparation. I thought it would be helpful to offer how I deal with the work I love, feel "meh" about, and that work which I loathe. I know we all understand the concept of outsourcing but how do you power through when you are the laborer that needs to complete the tasks of level one of the Productive Home CEO Theoretical Framework Pyramid. You have options!

Love

Let me start with my love of laundry. I love at the end you have a visible representation of what you have worked at all day. After documenting how much time it took me one day to do 8 loads of laundry, I had documented only 90 minutes of actual work. You may not like remembering to switch the laundry or putting it away. So here are a few ideas to maybe enjoy it more. One idea I saw was all the family's laundry was hung in the laundry room because their house had space for that. I'm a fan of helping your kids to help you. I knew looking at that beautiful stack of freshly laundered clothes in one pile was like over load for my kids' brains. So I would put individual stacks in a laundry basket with clothes that need hung laid across the top. Then they would take them to their room and put them away. Figure out what will make it easier and cause less resistance in them helping you.

Meh

I fell "meh" about cleaning. I've done it for others. I can do it for myself. I'm indifferent. But you may loathe it. If that's the case, decide if you would rather do it all in one day (that's what I like) or a little bit each day and then plan for that. Honestly, when I get to the end of my cleaning, which is my toilets, I start to bribe myself. I think once I'm done, I can have a bagel, work on a puzzle, or whatever I've been wanting to do. The other thing that I found to be helpful is to do something while you clean. You can listen to a podcast, music, or call someone and just start cleaning.

Loathe

I loathe all things food related. I mean think about it, conservatively speaking, you spend 3 hours a week planning the meals, getting the food, putting it away. And about an hour a day prepping, cooking, and cleaning up. I do not do anything food related in my house. When my kids were younger I traded with another mom. She made two meals for my family and I did her laundry. Now that my family is in a different phase of life I prep everything on Sunday. Then I grab, go, eat, rinse the container, and go on my merry way. After talking to my friend who is making a hot breakfast every morning, EVERY MORNING, I had a suggestion. I said why don't you make all the breakfast meat on Sundays and then you don't have that clean up everyday before work. She noticed the kids ate it faster. So then I said make enough on Sunday to get you to Wednesday. Then on Wednesday make enough to get you to Saturday. Then you can have a lazy morning. Or if you are a married person they could cook on that day.

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It is so important to know the kind of tasks you have, how much time they take you, and where you need to be to complete them! Then when you look at your calendar you know where you can plug them in. After a couple weeks of this repeated activity, your brain will start to anticipate these activities and you'll be in your Pro Era.

Blue Orange Purple

If you are anything like I was, you have very long lists with not enough time or money to complete them all. I started with the Sunday Basket®, identifying and categorizing with the slash pockets. Then I had to figure out where and when I could get them done. I have my blue work which is all my weekly invisible work like calendaring, budgeting, getting ready for the next week of school (when my kids were younger), mail, you get the idea. Then I have Orange work which is my house work like food, laundry, and cleaning. And then I have my purple work which is a larger project, in this case errands. In order to time block your tasks, start by identifying which tasks fit into those three categories; invisible work, housework, and errands.

How Much Time Do They Take & Where Do You Need To Be

As I budgeted my time, I got really good at knowing how long each task would take. This made it easier for me to know how many tasks I could fit into any open block of time. I was always in the car, at a doctor's appointment, or working so I had to make the most of any "free time," once I discovered blocks of time I would write in the tasks I would do. Keep in mind that not all tasks are created equally; they require different amounts of time and different kinds of energy from you. Calendaring these blocks of time became a visual representation of the invisible work I was doing and it gave boundaries for these tasks to get completed. Once you have claimed these time blocks, protect them so you can actually get your tasks done.

Obviously my orange work had to be done at my house. Pretty hard to vacuum from the soccer field. And there is a reason that there is a portable Sunday Basket® because then you can bring your blue work with you. You can go through slash pockets in your car, at the pool, or at a doctor's office. I know, because I did! And when it came to errand day (purple work) I knew where the farthest away stops were and I started there. That way, if my kids needed to go home the remaining stops were closer to my home when I did them later. Some of you really have no free time like me when my kids were younger. I found a way to make it work and I want to encourage you that you can too.

Going Pro

You need to be aware of your highest productivity energy during the day. I realized my energy is highest for physical tasks in the morning. My body knows on Saturday morning I'm going to get a cup of coffee and soon after I almost look forward to getting all of my machines going. Your body starts to expect these "work times." It's a cadence you have gotten your body used to, almost like muscle memory. And I know I have more cognitive energy later in the day so I used to do my Sunday Basket® in the afternoon but I have changed that to late morning now. You have to adjust your tasks and time blocking to your phase of life. And this task stacking acts as scaffolding to our brains. Our brains love structure. The Sunday Basket® creates a weekly cycle that can evolve into a yearly cycle when you add in Planning Day and the Productive Home CEO Sessions.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Sunday Basket®

• The Paper Solution®

• The Productive Home Solution

• Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media.