Want to Become a Better Mom or Homemaker? Measure Your Progress.

The second sign of a miserable job is Immeasurement, which I found fascinating. I loved the concept that people--including mothers--want something that they can measure. It resonated with me strongly, especially since I knew that so much of my ability to consistently, passionately pay off our debt came from the fact that I was constantly measuring how far we had come, how far we had to go, and how much time and money our efforts were saving us. People need some way to look at their days of work and see that there's improvement, long-term difference.

As I thought about this, I remembered the words of so many women coming back to me. "That's just the way of being a mother," some of them had said. "You spend half an hour washing the dishes, and then four hours later you do it all over again. And the same thing day after day, and you just have to have faith that you're making a difference somewhere."

I agree that mothering takes faith, but I refuse to accept the fact that I just have to spend my life doing things over and over again, with no sign of advancement or progress. In fact, I think that believing that concept has caused me to be less organized, less dedicated, less committed, and less in-control of running a beautiful home. I realized as I read this section that if I wanted to apply this business principle to running my home, I needed to find a way to not only set goals, but measure them. But how can you do that? Can you measure how clean a house is, for instance?

As it turns out, yes, you can. I realized that I needed graphs and charts, just like I had with my debt. I divided my living room into ten sections of cleanliness, ten areas that I'd like to see be clean. I decided to record whether or not those areas were clean every day at morning, noon, and night for a week. It's only been two days, but I've already seen huge improvement, both in my house and my chart. Check it out!


So far, the book seems to be right. When people, including one somewhat burned-out SAHM, get the chance to measure their work in an objective way, the feel better about that work, even if it's just keeping the living room clean. And it seems to make them do better work more consistently . In fact, Millionaire Mommy Next Door says that the mere act of measuring yourself will make you consistently improve in areas. She was, of course, talking how to apply this principle to money, but it also works for disorganized mothers who want to whip their homes into shape. Or at least it works for me.

Related posts:
Sign One of a Miserable Mom-Job: Three Ways to Overcome Mom Anonymity

Comments

[Cat]

Ooh, I like these posts. What's the third way?

[Heidi]

A comment! A comment! Whoopee!

The third one's coming up. I'm trying to avoid burnout. LOL.

[Sherri]

I would love to learn more about your graphs. What are the 10 sections? I think you're on to something here Heidi --- maybe the next ***lady!!!

[Sherri]

I would love to learn more about your graphs. What are the 10 sections? I think you're on to something here Heidi --- maybe the next ***lady!!!

[Heidi]

@Sherri: Let's see, I had
TV area
Bookshelves
Tall bookshelf
Coat closet
toys picked up
floor clean
Corner next to door
couch
toy cupboard
door organizer

Some of them were harder to get up to par than others, obviously, but the results have been fabulous!