Routines for Success Part 2: The 5 Unexpected Reasons Your Family Needs a Command Center
Have you ever made it to Friday and felt like you didn’t get anything done during the week? With the Wild One trying to run the show, a demanding infant and full schedules, sometimes it seems like our week can fly by without a purpose. At the end of 2019, during our 2020 planning meeting, we realized that we hadn’t adapted our schedule for two kids and that both of us had needs that weren’t being met and projects were way behind. We picked our word of the year, Efficiency, and that is when we remembered our Family Command Center and agreed that we would implement it again immediately.
You see, these busy, productive-less weeks happened way before we added little time-consumers to our lives and moved to our project property.
We were both young and used to doing things our own way. We constantly bickered and the lack of progression drove my husband and I so nuts and we would take the stress out on each-other. Finally, we had a disagreement over a house project not getting done and played the “you said you would do it and NO I DIDN’T” game. We decided enough was enough, we had to figure out how to start getting more done with better communication. Thus in 2015 we made our original command center.
It was a large whiteboard hanging in our dining room and every Sunday after Church we would sit down and write out a list of things we each wanted to accomplish that week. We put down everything we could think of, from chores and house projects, to extra curricular activities. Then together we decided on a priority for each item and we started actually plugging them into our calendar during our “free time” slots (which we had a lot more of back then!)
We instantly saw a change in productivity, which was the main goal, but we saw some unexpected changes too. Here are the 5 unexpected changes that can be realized from a properly implemented Command Center.
Better Communication and Stronger Marriage
We set up a structure of communication where each of us were able to list our goals and desires for the weekly projects out. We would discuss why they were important to us and then we would put both of our lists together and as a team we would rank them in order of importance. Just the act of writing out and discussing our weekly desires and needs drastically improved our communication. It forced us to discuss the fact that my husband cared more about the laundry being done, than he cared about the house projects getting done and that I cared more about spending quality time with him, than I cared about, well anything else.
In addition, we no longer wasted time arguing over who was going to do what and who said what because it was all written down.
More Teamwork
Because we understood each-other’s priorities and the importance of each item to our spouse we were more eager to help one another and work as a team. This even allowed us to easily accomplish the items that neither of us wanted to do, but we agreed had to be done. For example, I better understood how much it stressed him out when the lawn got even a little long, so I was more willing to cut it while I was on conference calls so he could come home to it being done. He was more willing to slow down on some projects and spend quality time with me just playing games, because he knew the difference it made in my week.
House was Noticeably Less Cluttered
We discussed, assigned and scheduled the must-do chores. This made the process so much faster and even more enjoyable. I expressed how much I did not enjoy washing dishes, laundry, cleaning…(pretty much any of the house work)… but I did enjoy cooking, emptying the dishwasher, making the bed, vacuuming, dusting and yard work. So we split-up the chores so that there was no longer a discussion on who would do them, and the larger ones got scheduled. This quickly resulted in a decluttered, relaxing environment that was almost always clean.
Projects Progressed Faster, on a More Realistic Timeline
Because we had dedicated time scheduled for house projects where we could focus with no distractions - the projects were completed faster and the work was more enjoyable. The key here was we broke up large projects into 30-60 minute time slots. We made progress each week without taking away from our other needs and responsibilities. The stress around the projects also dissipated because we had realistic expectations for what we actually had time to accomplish based on our priorities.
We Had More Time to Spend Together
We were significantly more productive, which meant we had more time throughout the week for us. We were no longer wasting time talking and bickering about what we were going to do any given day or night. In addition, we prioritized our marriage and scheduled dedicated time to just be together and spend quality time on us. Knowing that we had this dedicated time every week also improved the productivity and my personal mood throughout the week.
Next Week on the Blog - The Making of a Command Center: A guide on How to Prioritize and Plan as a Family
By Anna Morris
About the Author
Anna Morris is a CTNC, Personal Trainer, has a BBA in Sales and Marketing and is the founder and owner of Morris Success and Fitness, LLC. Her life revolves around God, her Husband Kurtis and her two Boys, Waylon and Rowan. In addition to God, family and friends, her passions include: nutrition, cooking, developing routines, mobility training, soccer, running, and camping, Her mission is to spread the knowledge that God has given her to help 2,000 individuals define and achieve their personal vision for success and fitness in the next decade.