Working smarter, not harder

Anyone who’s read a book on business management has probably seen this phrase. Simply put, it means doing things in a way that give you the greatest results for the least amount of effort.

Applying this adage to motherhood is a little uncomfortable, though. For some reason, we’ve gotten the notion that the harder our job is, the more worthy it makes us. We see extreme effort as proof that we’re willing to do anything for our families. Even though I logically reject this idea, it’s still lurking around in my subconscious, ready to jump out and give my conscience a little prick when I take the easy way out.

Here’s an example: when my freelance career was really starting to take off, I decided to hire a cleaning service to come every other week and take care of some of the tasks I never seemed able to get to while juggling deadlines and a baby on my hip: floors, blinds, the inside of the fridge…you know, the things that often get overlooked on a day-to-day basis until you have to devote a whole weekend to them.

I wrestled with this decision for months. After all, my mother had never used a cleaning service. How entitled of me, I thought. How elitist. How self-indulgent. We can’t afford it. If only I were more organized and managed my time better, I could do it all myself.

One by one, I shot each of the objections down:

• My mother never used a cleaning service (to my knowledge), it is true. Irrelevant. My life is different from my mom’s, she took a different kind of shortcut. And who’s to say she wouldn’t have been happier if she had hired one?
• The concern that I might appear entitled or elitist was just plain silly, as the cleaning people I knew were from the same socioeconomic group as myself. They were independent entrepreneurs, earning a fair hourly wage, setting their own hours and helping to support their families by running a flexible small business. Gee…kind of like myself.
• Self-indulgent? Maybe. Only in that my family and I need to have a clean home, I have a lot to do, and I only have so many hours in a day.
• Cost is a factor, of course. If the money isn’t there, it isn’t. And there have been many times when my budget has been too tight to justify a cleaner, so I suck it up. But the average middle-class family spends a lot of money on goods and services that aren’t, strictly speaking, completely necessary. Cable TV. Dinners out. Fitness club memberships.
  Taking certain tasks off the table means the house stays pretty clean in the two weeks between visits. We still have plenty to do, but we never get overwhelmed. It means I argue less with my husband over whose turn it is to scrub out the tub (answer: neither!) and have more time to devote to my work. That’s at least as valuable as a monthly night out at a so-so restaurant. It’s as valuable as a daily chocolate bar, pack of gum, soda or cup of coffee. I’d say it’s even almost as valuable as a nightly glass of wine.
• Lack of time management skills? Actually, it was the opposite. Delegating the tasks I am least interested in to somebody who’s better and more efficient at them than I am is smart time management. It would take me at least twice as long to accomplish as much as my cleaning person does. Those are hours that would have to come from my kids or from my work.

Have you been tempted to take the “easy way out” in some area of your life, but are dealing with that pesky inner critic telling you a really good mom would do it the hard way? Post about it in the comments and let us tear that inner critic to shreds for you.

Or, share your own example of working “smarter, not harder”. What shortcuts have you found make your family’s life run smoother? Do you ever deal with the inner critic? What do you tell her?

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