Do you ever have a parenting week when you feel like someone shoved a great big wrench right into your finely orchestrated plans? You are busy and you have it all mapped out just right. It is a delicate game, but you are certain you can do it all.

Until.

A kid gets sick, a pet runs away, a partner gets laid off... We have all had things happen right at the wrong time.

Two weeks ago, my toddler had a bike accident and broke his foot. It ended up being a minor injury that could have been much worse so we felt very grateful. He is not in much pain and is hobbling around on his cast quite well.

But it was just not the week for an accident. I was already behind with work, we had plans to go to the coast for a relaxing weekend of sand and water (cue the evil laugh) and our budget right now does not include all the medical bills.

I should just be happy he is okay, but I can't help but get frustrated about the timing.

Until the end of the week, when I took him to his little preschool, feeling relieved that he could play for four hours so I could complete four writing pieces and answer about 300 emails.

But he would not let me leave him at the school.

He was clingy and wanted me to hold him. I couldn’t get him connected to his teachers or playing with his peers. After staying for two hours to help him settle in, we left when he finally said: "I want to go home," with tears in his eyes.

All my work would have to wait. My little guy had a major trauma this week. He was injured, rode in an ambulance and is hobbling around in a heavy cast. He is feeling vulnerable and needs me.

I took some deep breaths and made a new plan. I let go of some things I thought I should do. I asked for help from my partner in getting some time to work in the evening. And, I decided to share my story with you instead of the more complicated post I was planning.

When I ask myself what is really important to me, I know that my loved ones come before my to-do list.

How about you? What do you do when your big plans are derailed?

Are you a normal human being? If so, you probably procrastinate in some areas of your life. Putting off stuff you just don’t want to do, stalling when you feel blocked, letting things stack up because you feel overwhelmed. Which of these sounds familiar?

The good news is that procrastination is just a strategy and one that can be easily shifted. And most of the time, the tasks that seem so daunting are much easier once you stop resisting them. But, you have to want to change the resistance pattern before you can really make progress.

As a parent, you have so little time anyway. The things you put off are likely to never get done. My good friend and professional organizer Krista Colvin says: "Now is the new later."

Here are five simple steps to shifting out of procrastination and into action:

1. How does procrastination affect your life? You are not going to be willing to change until become aware of how procrastinating is impacting your life. When you put things off, you tend to get even more overwhelmed. Sometimes relationships are challenged because your friends and family feel frustrated when you don’t follow through. You also have trouble reaching your goals when you are constantly resisting move forward. And resisting something often takes more energy than just doing it anyway! The truth is that procrastination keeps you stuck and hampers your success.


2. What do you really want? Often the things you are putting off are the things you don’t want to be doing anyway? Do the bills sit in piles and don’t get paid on time? Set up an on-line bill pay service. Are you always late for work? Time to rethink how you feel about your job. Putting off calling that friend back? Perhaps it is time to have the real conversation you have been avoiding, like changing the relationship. Procrastination can be a wonderful sign that it is either time to let something go or get some outside help.


3. Who can help you? Sometimes the projects and tasks we are avoiding are the ones that are most challenging for us. Getting some outside help or information can really make a difference! If cleaning out the garage is daunting, ask a friend who is really great at organizing to come and help you. Haven’t filed your taxes? Hire an accountant; it is worth every penny they will save you in penalties.


4. Make a plan: Make a list (right now, don’t put it off!) of all the things you have been putting off. Decide which ones you can let go of, which ones you can delegate and which ones you really want to do accomplish. Now, visit our previous post about goal setting and create your plan of action.


5. Celebrate your success! We bet you feel really great now that you have some things checked off your list! Remember to notice what is different in your life now that you are moving forward rather than stuck in gear. Reflecting on the positive change that happens when you get stuff accomplished will inspire you the next time you feel stuck in a procrastination cycle.

So, go ahead and tell us: What have you been putting off that you are now ready to complete? (I had been putting off writing this post and whew, I feel great now that it is done!)

Jeremiah and I both have trouble remembering when we've locked the door or turned off the toaster oven before leaving the house. Associating a routine action with a movement, sound, or other event unrelated to the humdrum behavior can help you easily remember it. As it turns out, performing an unrelated action in conjunction with a habit can also help you remember to do the routine thing in the first place. Now that's interesting.

From today's Science Daily:

"In extended medication-taking situations, the habitual nature of the task may make it difficult for older adults to remember whether or not they took the medication on a particular day, especially if pill boxes are not used," explains Mark McDaniel, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

"To remedy this potential problem, older adults could be instructed to take their medication while placing one hand on their head or in some other unusual or silly way, like crossing their arms," he suggests. "Our results indicate that older adults can use these sorts of more complex motor tasks to effectively reduce repetition errors in habitual prospective memory tasks, such as taking a daily medication."

The key here is that muscle memory is working along with your brain's memory of the narrative of your day. And what works for the old, works for the young.

BoingBoing posted about this study today and got some interesting tips from readers regarding the pairing of movements, speech, or sounds with routine actions to help cement a memory and avoid that nagging "Did I remember to lock the door?" feeling. Advice includes:

• "When I lock my car I will check two of the doors are locked, or when I lock my house up, I will shake the door." - Gerg


• "I have the tendency to think I have forgotten to lock it (which will haunt me all day), so I say the name of the day to myself when locking the door. I can then recall that if I have recited the day's name it is associated with locking the door and the memory is easily retrievable." - Ocncty


• "I hit a metal column in my basement to remember turning off the iron. I do not know why unplugging it cannot be remembered distinctively from day to day, but making a sound can." - Oxdeadbeef


• "For a long time, when I've needed to remember something important, I associate a reminder with something I know I will see at a time when I need to be reminded. (e.g. Yesterday, I needed to return a library book, and the library was close to my bus stop, so I associated the area around the bus stop with remembering to return the book). What they're talking about is the same, just using kinaesthetic rather than visual associations." - Kieran O'Neill

Give it a try! Or let us know how you remember that you've performed those routine tasks so you don't have to drive back home, like I sometimes do, because I'm not sure if I turned off the stove.