Systems Check: Time Management for Dadnauts
When I left the Guards, I thought I’d faced peak chaos—training drills, inspections, tight formations. Turns out, preparing a toddler for nursery with a banana in one hand and a sock on only one foot beats them all.
This post kicks off the Dadnaut Toolkit, your weekly dispatch of practical ideas and helpful strategies from a dad trying to balance parenting, work, hobbies and not completely losing the plot.
⚙️ Systems Check:
Last week, I lost three hours to sleep negotiations, toy troubleshooting, and a failed attempt to “quickly” tidy the Disney princesses. It made me realise I need systems—not to control the chaos, but to surf it. It also helps that my partner (Mamnaut) takes care of cooking and clothes-washing amongst the long list of other activities!
đź› Tools I’m Using:
- Micro Missions: I’ve started setting 15-minute goals—write three blog lines, put away the little people (toys), or just make a cup of tea and drink it hot. Those add up.
- Mission Control Board: One Google calendar now organises everything from blog goals to family trips and working patterns to meetings. It’s visual, flexible, and satisfying to tick off—even if it’s “Remember to eat.” This has been a great help in just organising family events, nursery times, work times, nursery parents evening etc. even the occasional wedding or christening, we have all forgot them!
- Scheduled Downtime: I now treat breaks like appointments. No guilt. Just recharging our own batteries so I can handle my crew with patience whether that’s Xbox or kindle! early morning, I wake up at 05:30 am everyday. Mondays and Tuesday offer an hour of me time. Wednesday to Friday gives me half an hour before Mamnaut wakes for work. Saturdays and Sundays, I have until the family wakes up time varies. Once the little one is sleeping (from about 20:30)
đź’¬ Final Words:
Time won’t expand, but how you frame it can. Every 10 minutes reclaimed is another LEGO spaceship built, paragraph written, sanity reclaimed or just that much needed quiet. A great partnership developing clear teamwork foundations, that’s time well spent.
Dadnauts 