- [<] Status Log - created:: 2023-10-11 - status-updated:: - status:: seedling - type:: thoughts - [S] Marketing - purpose:: riff off of https://helloadversity.substack.com/p/making-the-ask - desc:: even if you don't have money / can't afford a nanny / etc - connections: Unironically, I literally just left a comment on a substack about how hard it is to ask for help explaining one of my methods for "outsourcing" work I find overwhelming -- making running lists of things that people could plausibly help me by doing has been hugely helpful. The teenager who comes over once a week to watch my kid for a few hours obviously can't write my newsletter for me, but if the baby's asleep, she can absolutely hard boil some eggs for me, and that's a huge load off. If my father in law swings by for an hour or so to chat with my husband, I can usually get him to help me with a quick task -- if I remember to ask! > One of the most useful things I started doing when I had my first kid -- which was a really challenging physical process as I had some really severe postpartum pelvic dysfunction -- was make lists. Not just lists of things I had to do, not just a "honey do" list for things I needed my husband's help with, but all the things that any visitor could help with. That way when someone would ask if I needed help -- or just swing by to hang out -- I could skim the list for things I needed done but didn't remember in that specific moment. > > That made it a lot easier to be like "hey before you go do you mind carrying this thing upstairs for me, because I can't," or give my doula a task while I was breastfeeding so that I could optimize her time, or give my mom something to do to keep her out of my hair, or ask my father in law to do something that would help him feel useful while his wife held the baby and he otherwise felt awkward. I haven't read GTD -- I get the vibe that the target audience is not exactly moms with a part time job in high-level customer service -- but to me it's less about which tasks are repeated (heaven knows I "repeat" the task of skimming my notes looking for inspiration a lot!) and more about which ones can be done by someone else, which ones NEED someone else (e.g. hanging these corner rods is a two person job, and who knows when my husband will have a chance to help me with it), which ones I can make incremental progress on, which ones have a deadline, etc. I feel you on the efficiency of getting good at something, though. Now that I've made veggie pinwheels a few dozen times and don't need a recipe or measuring cups anymore it's a lot faster, so I've got the bandwidth to start experimenting with focaccia ;)