My thanks to Cindy Posey for this guest post. Cindy is the author of Go Workout Mom, a blog for mothers to find time to make physical fitness a priority in their lives. By providing knowledge and tips, moms gain support and motivation to live a fit life. Cindy is a mom to two toddlers, wife to a fantastic husband and a certified personal trainer (CI-CPT).

Raising a family is a business where family dynamics are relationships among members and home dynamics are responsibilities to keep the home functioning. Because of the complexities of schedule management, church commitments, school, practices, chores, finances and more, a family benefits from applying successful entrepreneurial systems. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris is a complete system on how to establish a lifestyle through effective use of time. Here are my thoughts on applying Tim Ferris’s system while managing family and home dynamics.

Step I: D is for Definition

Tim outlines 10 Prominent Rules which help define mindset. His illustrations may focus on business, but we’re going to replace that concept with family. I felt that five rules worked well with family and home management.

Rule #4, Timing is Never Right urges us to not wait for the perfect moment. Do parents have to sacrifice personal ambitions and desires because they have children? Why do moms wait until children are in school or go to college before focusing on themselves? These questions are typical with parents of young children. Children do require work, but the excuses made to not seek personal improvement are unnecessary. Tim states, “Someday is a disease that will go to the grave with you.” (33). Self reflection and analysis of the current lifestyle will help break the mold of someday thinking.

Rule #6, Emphasize Strengths Don’t Fix Weaknesses, helps determine how best to contribute to family and home dynamics. If you’re not good with balancing the checkbook, then let your spouse be in charge of that responsibility. When determining the necessary jobs within the home consider strengths in assigning roles and responsibilities.

Rule #8, Money Alone is Not the Solution, and Rule #9, Relative Income is More Important than Absolute Income, are essential elements in realizing the powerful freedoms of family life. Money is not the answer to managing the family. The relationships between members require little money. It is helpful in providing additional outlets in entertainment, sports, music and hobbies, but for living, sharing time with each other is more valuable.

One concern for families is deciding whether to give up the second job to stay home and raise children. A common response that I receive when I mention being a stay-at-home mom, is “Oh, I wish I could do that. We just can’t afford to.” It is tough, especially if you’re heavily in debt or barely living above the poverty level (check out Dave Ramsey. He’ll change your perspective on debt). However, a family with an average income can manage a home if the family’s priorities and mindset are clearly outlined. What’s best for your family? “[O]ptions — the ability to choose — is the real power” (p.25) in working toward family needs.

Defining Fear is another important element of Step 1. Change ignites fear. Therefore, fear prevents action. The arrival of a baby is a terrifying moment for many parents. Once in complete control of schedules, emotions and sleep patterns, this baby shakes up your whole universe. Sleep deprived and reeling from the new responsibilities, a newborn wrecks havoc on relationships and thought processes. It’s okay to feel this way. I think all parents do. The hardest challenge for new parents to realize is that “less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness.”(p.32) I’m still learning and developing my definition of meaningless work. It’s a challenging task to look at what I do on a daily basis and cut out things that don’t contribute to anything meaningful. It took me over a year to finally realize that I did not need to pick up the children’s toys every couple of hours. They were playing with them all day long. Why waste time picking up after them to get frustrated with them dumping the same containers back out? Fear of someone knocking on the door kept me from just letting go and letting us live. Now, I’m on the other end of the spectrum and lucky to pick up the toys every few days or so. We’ll eventually find a happy medium. Luckily, no one comes knocking on our door!

Finally, using the Dreamline Concept to establish a “[f]ocus on being productive instead of busy” (p.33), you are able to develop a plan of action. Developing your family’s mission, recognizing your fears and taking action changes dreams into reality. Clearly written goals help establish routines and expectations for each other. The whole family works to define the direction and contributes to the path. Shape your priorities in organizing home and family dynamics because the “[m]oney is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it.” (p.24).

Step II: E is for Elimination

The process of elimination illustrates ways to manage time in the home. When Tim says, “lack of time is actually lack of priorities,” (p.73) he answered every parent’s exasperated comments in handling the schedule. Through his discussion of Parkinson’s Law and the 80/20 rules, he outlined the tools that help a family become more efficient. The goal is to “identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines” (p.75). Now, replace income with any home activity (cooking, schooling, cleaning, fitness, etc). How can the home be maintained to live efficiently?

For example, I love Flylady. She developed a system that focuses on 15 minute housecleaning duties. She’s taken an aspect of the home and created clear, concise directions on how to perform tasks which could otherwise engulf the whole day. Other areas in which a system of elimination is effective are shopping (with Coupon Mom or the Grocery Game to eliminate time for coupon cutting and taking advantage of sales), menu planning once a week, combining chore runs into one day of the week, and use of a calendar to contain important obligations and fitness routines! Schedule workouts to keep your energy levels up. It’s important for everyone in the family to get their physical fitness.

“Being selective — doing less — is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest. (73)

What other areas can be eliminated in the home?

• Checking email once or twice a day. This is one I definitely need to implement!
• Stop answering the phone. We stopped answering our home phone 6 months ago and have only had 1 call worth returning. Our evenings are no longer interrupted by annoying telemarketers.
• There’s no need to answer the door. I think this is important for homeschooling and work at home parents. Be clear with family and neighbors that “you’re working during X hours.”

Step III: A is for Automation

Virtual assistants don’t make sense in managing the day to day tasks of a family, but outsourcing is already a part of family and house management. By using nannies, Moms Day Out programs, daycare centers and schools, childcare is outsourced. When dining out, meal preparation is outsourced. Other areas include personal trainers, event planners and house cleaners, as Maria has already found! Seeking to outsource can greatly enhances family and home dynamics. Automation is a step that typically requires money, especially in home management. This is where family priorities help define the areas in which outsourcing makes sense. How much is your time worth? Is the service worth the removal of stress or task to justify the expense? Family priorities will help define the areas worthy of automation.

Step IV: L is for Liberation

Here, the book focuses on removing yourself from the workforce. For the working parents, the employment aspect is well worth attempting. For the home, this is the point where managing family obligations turns into a liberating experience. By establishing systems, mom and dad can take a small trip away from home while a babysitter or family member watches the little ones. Mom can develop her love of reading by joining a book club that meets once or twice a month without feeling guilty leaving the little ones at home. What’s even more liberating is the removal of self destructive talk and realizing that your family is capable of running well because of the elimination processes and automation that are in place. Family time becomes stress free for everyone.

So, do you think you can alter the business of managing family and home in a shorter workweek? By continuing to imitate and experiment with these steps, managing the home will never become dull. I do not believe the job of parenting should fit into a 4 hour workweek, however, the guidelines and fundamental steps presented in 4-Hour Workweek can be applied to alleviate overworked, time strapped, anxiety-riddled parents.

Photo by saschapohflepp.

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