Multitasking gone wrong: Poor time management

Being a mom increased my multitasking skills, but wait a minute; is multitasking a skill? Hehehe 😉, just maybe! Most times, I will sit down and run a lot of calculations in my little mind on how things will go for the day so I can achieve the maximum result within the day. In some cases, I have succeeded, but there was a particular time I didn't manage my time well. Multitasking indeed went wrong, and that affected other things in my home due to how poorly I managed my time.

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I hope you do remember the saying that time is money," right? Both procrastination and laziness are good eaters of our time if you ask me, and sometimes miscalculation drains our time as well. It takes so much discipline for one to keep time and manage it properly. I can't count the number of times I mismanaged my time; it's very bad, but I have had enough bitter experience to make me sit up and do the right thing, at least to a reasonable extent.

So without further ado, let me share with you all the times I managed my time poorly, the negative effects of it, and the lesson learned!

It was a Saturday, and my husband traveled out of the city, leaving behind my children and I, with my cousin's sister living with me. I did not have any raw food available at home, so I went to the market to restock the house. Before going, we all had lunch together, and that was the only food left at home, both raw and cooked. So my plan was to make dinner after restocking that afternoon.

The market I chose to visit on that day was a bit far, and on the way to the market, I remembered one of my dear friends who lives close to the market. It's been a long time since I promised her that I would visit, but I never had time to do so, so I quickly said to myself, "Why not pay the lady a surprise visit at once since you are close to her house?" I listened to my mind and headed down to her house. It took me an extra hour to go and return to the market, but unfortunately she wasn't at home. I didn't call her prior to going because I wanted a surprise. Back to the market, I was buying stuff and checking time, and before I could finish the shopping, it was 6:30 p.m.!

Then I thought of my kids; they must have been feeling hungry by then, and Mummy is still in the market. I regretted going to see the friend in the first place; however, I quickly said a word of prayer in my mind that I wouldn't meet traffic on the road. Behold, I met severe traffic, and I shed tears. A lot of questions were running through my mind: when will I reach home today, prepare dinner, and take care of the kids before bed? I quickly called my home cell phone, but the number was switched off. There was no means of reaching them that time of night, and I became worried. I regretted going to that far-flung market when I could buy a few things nearby and plan very well for restocking. Eventually I got home around 9 p.m. after facing the traffic, but lo, the kids waited for Mummy, cried for hunger, according to my sister, and they all went to bed. I hated myself that night. I calculated wrongly and messed up with my precious time at the same time.

The morning came, and they woke up so weak and staggering due to hunger. They felt the effects of my poor time management. I apologized to them for being a bad mom that night, but then I learned my lesson.

Lesson learned

The experience taught me that family should always come first before any kind of friend visit; it should be a secondary plan entirely. I also learned not to wait until there was nothing in my home before I restocked.

In my effort to kill two birds with one stone, I ended up killing none at all. This is what multitasking did to me, but I'm glad I learned ways to adjust my family's lifestyle practically.

This post was inspired by the #hivelearners community on the topic titled Poor time management

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46 comments
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Kia, the poor kids had to bear it all, it would have been worse if your husband was at home, thank God you learned from the experience

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I may not even have tried it if my husband was at home 🤦🤦
I pity the poor kids that suffered my poor time management
Lol

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Family, indeed, should always come first. Glad that the kids forgave you for making them go to bed the night before in hunger. Nigeria and Lagos traffic could also humble one. They are the biggest time consumer

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Anyone making movements in Lagos should just create extra time for a something like this...I know I messed up big time..lol
But glad I learned from it

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Someone always suffers whenever we mismanage our time, In this case, it was your kids, lol and you too because you weren't happy of the outcome.
We keep getting better everyday anyway

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My dear, some experience will deal you harder and you learn by force

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Thank God we learnt at last, that's the most important thing

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Eiyah, quite a heart touching recount. Lesson learned indeed.

Good piece

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Ahhh! My dear, family first oh! Friends and others can come later.
Thank God you have learnt your lessons.
Thanks also for sharing this beautiful post with us. Do have a great day ahead.

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LoL 😂 so all the bed flee away before you could throw the stone at them was just kidding 😂 don't mind me.

I wonder how those kids would have felt that day because hunger is something that adult self can't deal with.

You should have buy it around 9pm is late already even if you cook that night they might not be able to eat it because when someone get hungry too much when they eventually have that food their stomach might not be able to take it.

Calculate well next time

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Chai!!! My children oooo.. We need to flog you o.

Thank God you learnt your lessons. It is family first all the time.

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Eyaa!
Those poor kids had pay for mummy's miscalculation. You must have felt really bad😬 anyways you have learnt your lesson.

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Sometimes life happens.

Sometimes mistakes happen.

I wouldn't say you were a "bad mom". A Bad mom doesn't care if they come back late and the kids are hungry. Mistakes were made and lessons learned but I'd never judge as a 'bad mom' anyone who is doing there best and makes a mistake because they are only human.

Have a great day and thanks for posting.

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Awwwwww 🥰🥰
You are so kind with words

I really appreciate this comment
Thank you

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I guess the title of this write up should be "surprise visit went wrong" 😂😂, because if you didn't waste time visiting a friend or called her before going you would have escaped all that happened after.

Thinking that you won't meet traffic after 6pm, it is a difficult guess😂

Well, it was not two birds you were trying to kill with one stone but three birds,

firstly, you planed to visit a friend
Secondly, you planned to visit the market
Thirdly, you planned on cooking diner

Well you only killed just one bird😂😂

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Hahaha 😂😂😂
Emu just finished me here 😂😂😂
Leave me oo 😂

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Eh Mummy, i pity those children. your family first before other people. Poor management is a disease, we should try to manage well. Thank you for this piece.

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What a big miscalculation! Am glad you learned your lesson. Personally, I am not a fan of multitasking. I have noticed that if i carry out two different tasks at the same time, the quality of both tasks will be low. For instance, I once had to write an article and listen to the news at the same time because I had run out of time.

In the end, I missed out a lot of the things that were announced in the news and the article I wrote also had too many errors. In fact, I had to rewrite the entire article. I should have just faced one of the tasks and left the other.

Funny enough, two of my siblings are very good at multitasking. Maybe I'll learn the skill someday.

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Hahaha 😂😂
It's a nice skill if you can learn it just that you need to be calculative to achieve a good result

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Your mismanagement of time can also affect people around you and not only you. I'm so excited you learned your lessons

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You are right my dear
Glad I learned my lesson from the experience

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I also think that family should be the first priority of anyone. Uncertainty is a very natural thing in our life and for that reason all the calculation of us don't work all the time and you also faced such kind of situation but it's a good thing that you have learnt from it.

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Oh dearest, Nkem. Multitasking did you shege truly😂😂. That's all I can say. If I were the kids ehhnn... Hollandia Yogurt and Shawarma will need to do the pleading. And.. You are a good Mom. Never doubt that.

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Hahaha 😂😂
Please don't loud it atall
Otherwise, expenses will spring up from those wahala boys 🤣🤣🤣

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Hehe... Bribe me then. I need to be corrupted by your money😁

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In the end, experience they say is always the best teacher Nkem, otherwise just learn from others mistake. I Learnt from this by the way.

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It's a good thing you learnt that family always comes first especially when it involves children and I am sure you won't repeat such mistakes.

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Sometimes multi tasking can go wrong but the best is always managing our time adequately
Came from @dreemport

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There's always a lesson to be learnt from every situation. I totally understand that urge to give a friend a surprise visit; if the friend was actually around, you may have spent more time at he place but good thing she was out.

Time management is key and it takes a genius to properly optimize time.

I came in from #dreemport.

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You are right...I would have spent more time with her without realising the negative effects on the kids

Lesson learnt anyways
Thank you for your time

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