Mums still bear brunt of housework…
mind you, single mothers have this 100% of the time, however…
as reported in TheAge this morning by Adele Horin…
Being a parent has become more exhausting over the past 10 years as mothers and fathers devote more hours to paid work and to looking after their children, new data shows.
But for mothers in particular, the pressures have intensified as they spend as much time on housework as they did a decade ago while fathers have cut back.
“The workload of being a parent has just got worse since 1997,” said Lyn Craig, a senior research fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW. “It’s become more and more a scramble.”
Dr Craig, with colleague Dr Killian Mullan, will present the findings at an international conference of time-use researchers, starting at the Wesley Conference Centre in Sydney today.
Using Australian Bureau of Statistics data based on time-use diaries kept by almost 2000 couples, Dr Craig has tracked the growing gap between the workload of couples with pre-school age children and couples without children; and between mothers and fathers.
The diaries show that between 1997 and 2006 everyone devoted more hours to paid work – childless men and childless women, and mothers and fathers. As well, fathers and mothers devoted more hours to child-care activities, despite their longer hours at work. And everyone reduced the time they spent on housework – everyone that is, except for mothers… read on
something has got to give, no surprise there…
we can’t be all to everyone and everything, even though we might want to, it just isn’t possible
the sooner we all start to take stock of our lives and design them in terms of how we want them to run, the better
need help to get started, let me know…
Small is Beautiful
Care of the Barefoot Investor; Scott Pape…I had to share this with you as he is making a lot of sense…
November 15, 2008
WITH world leaders running around spending billions – no, make that trillions – of dollars of our money in an effort to avert a global financial meltdown, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking your little stash of cash pales in comparison.Rubbish. I know from personal experience that as little as a thousand bucks can change your life.
Coming up with a grand shouldn’t be too much of a stretch, especially if you’ve read and implemented a few suggestions from last week’s column. And if you didn’t, readers on my Herald Sun blog this week have added dozens more tight-ass tips.
Then again, if all else fails, the PM is playing Santa Claus this year so look for your cheque under the tree.
Let’s look at half a dozen ways where money can buy happiness.
* Pay off your debts
* Get some Mojo
* Best investment this year
* Start a web-based business
* Loose change legacy
* Change someone’s lifeSo, there you have six things that can change your life (or someone else’s). Don’t buy into all the doom and gloom. It’s in dark financial days like these that fortunes are made starting with as little as a thousand bucks.
Tread your own path!
Read on to get the full detail. The detail he extrapolates the six points with is really worth the continued reading.
In terms of starting a web-based business, I am going through that very process right now, so stay tuned for updates as I go along… the continued path of my “4 Hour Work Week” journey.
TEMplate – to DESIGN your life and make Life! work
I trust this month has been all that you planned!…
Aren’t some of these Olympians teaching us a thing or two about understanding what you want and going for it! good on them I say…. speaking of which, if you want to relive Lauren Burns triumph at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, then there is a whole chapter dedicated to that very story in the “Secrets of Inspiring Women Exposed”… see below for details.
Read that article yet?
Tim Ferriss – “The 4 hour work week” … if not, please go here to do so. I have started my own 4 Hour Work Week process, so feel free to keep tabs on my progress by searching this blog using “4 hour work week journey”, and even better, if you subscribe to the RSS feed, updates will come directly to your inbox…couldn’t be easier.
As I always say, be bold and opportunistic … so, the DESIGN your life and make LIFE! work workshop has now been constructed and given great initial feedback. I can’t wait for this to be up and running as attendance will be about giving permission to entrepreneurial mothers (and fathers!) to take the time out to spend on that business idea, or that plan around combining all that you do into making Life! work.
Lets face it, many of us have been “empowered”… but now what?
This workshop will commence the journey of finding the answers, for you…
So in regards to that journey, my question to you is this… how are you going with the “The Entrepreneurial Mothers Guide to Making Life! Work”? … this workshop will be just the thing you need if you’re feeling stuck.
If you think you might have a group that would benefit from having your own workshop, then just reply to this with an email requesting same.
what to do about next School Holidays?…
why not enrich their educational experience as a result of acting on this email…
How to enrich their holistic education experiences?
By partnering with OzSee/Reho Travel/SolvePoverty to conduct a series of pilot familiarisation tours to outback Australia by a multi-cultural, multi-age group of students selected from school and Universities around the country.
Just think about, not only the short-term learning and fun, but also the long-term benefits…
The selected students will form the founder group of an expanding Australia-wide network of youth entrepreneurs, with the first step being to get a snapshot of what it is we need to be thinking about…And for the communities, they benefit economically by getting access to, and introducing visitors to our unique country…
Would you like to know more?
Tours are for 10 days, and the next one commences 25 September 2008… click here for details
(additional dates can be tailored to fit in with your holiday needs)
“Every Day is Mothers Day”…
Buy the “Secrets of Inspiring Women Exposed”, and get a 2nd one free
yes that’s right, get 2 for the price of 1
go on… buy one as a gift for that special someone in your life, and/or that talented student(s) in your life, and keep the other for yourself … to go shopping, click here
Feel free to share this with your friends, family and colleagues, so they can also do what you can do… I would also encourage you to encourage them to “subscribe” at www.theentrepreneurialmother.com.au so that they too can begin a beautiful relationship and receive such gifts into their own inbox!!
be in touch again soon…
cheers denise
P.S. Tours will be 10 days (to fit in with most school holidays) so if you want input into what the tours should look like, and when/where they should be, then please do reply and tell me all about them?
PPS If you have friends or family or fellow entrepreneurial mothers should be interested in this, simply encourage them to subscribe today @ www.theentrepreneurialmother.com.au!
How to Shorten your Work Week #7
still under “Definition”…
System Reset questions…
5. Determine the cost of these dreams and calculate your Target Monthly Income (TMI) for both timelines.
If financeable, what is the cost per month for each of the four dreams (rent, mortgage, payment plan installments, etc)?
Well… isn’t this an interesting exercise…
I have completed it manually and scanned it for your viewing pleasure, and to use as a sample. The automatic calculators and forms are available electroniclaly at www.fourhourworkweek.com.au. The process of completing both of these forms is explained in the book The 4 Hour Work Week, pg 56-59.
Once this calculation is done, you then use it to complete your Dreamline, see mine here…
As a result of doing this exercise, I know have critical first steps for each of the dreams listed. The point being that they are actionable and bring you closer to actualisation, provided I actually do them!
To quote Tim… “Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now!”
One of my to do was to book the workshop a particular Internet business workshop, run by Andrew and Daryl Grant. I’m off to Sydney tonight to attend that workshop. That should certainly impact on where I want to go… can’t wait.
How to Shorten your Work Week #6
still under “Definition”…
System Reset questions…
1. what would you do if there was no way you could fail?
If you were 10 times smarter than the rest of the world?
in 6 months…
I will absolutely go for IT!, and cash would start rolling in.
I will engage the Grants completely to help me set up the internet side of the business.
(I’m attending a workshop of theirs 15-18 August in Sydney)
I will find a regional/rural go getter, with contacts in all the right places to help set up the entrepreneurial mother workshops
(one of which I have found already, Tina Nikolovski of Radiance)
I will get out into the rural communities myself, to get a first-hand handle on what’s required
(I’m assisting Mary of Sumar Events with the rural shows)
I will concentrate on the 3 key aCE to do’s – the Employer Brand Strategy, the Internet Marketing strategy (see above) and the aCE redesign with Design VIC.
in 12 months…
I will have the lifestyle design I choose.
I will not work any school holidays, and have one big adventure per year.
I will have a regular and growing monthly cash flow +.
I will have sorted OzSee out with grants and sponsorships, and have that completely outsourced or set up as a subsidiary of Reho Travel, with regular tours running in school holidays.
My daughter will be booked into the school of our choice, plus participating in her activities of choice.
Have a driver who drives us everywhere.
in 2 years…
I will have the lifestyle design I want.
My daughter attending school of choice.
I will have a regular and growing monthly cash flow ++.
I will be driven around everywhere.
not a bad place to start!…
How to Shorten your Work Week #5
continuing Definition…
questions 6 & 7…
6…
What is it costing you – financially, emotionally and physically – to postpone action?
(I did sleep on this one, and had a great answer when I woke up, but now can’t remember it… the old notebook by the bed trick required from now on I think!)
a discovery of how many non $ producing activities I have been doing, in the hope of them coming good… eventually
(but remember, hope is not a strategy)
the use of my time therefore is not focussed, and possibly therefore not as mercenary as I could be
(time is money)
I am fiercely independent, which needs to be tempered to interdependence, which I am working on
In fact, going through this exercise is about addressing such matters
7…
What are you waiting for?
absolutely nothing! bring it on (to quote my dear aCE colleague DAG)
moving down the path already (its always interesting to note how the waters part when heading in the perceived right direction)
How to Shorten your Work Week #4
continuing with Definition…
Questions 4 & 5…
4…
What would you do if you were fired?
this doesn’t really apply to me, but if I was to change it to “if I got sick” then that’s a whole different ballgame.
Right now, I would be in trouble. Most of what I do is driven by me. Which is why I now have a focus on automating and outsourcing.
Which again fits nicely into the 4 hour work week model.
Roll on the rest of the process…
5…
What do you fear?
well, not a lot really
the perception of being too old would possibly be one
but then I wouldn’t know what I know without reaching the age that I have, so I can’t have it both ways
and of course you wonder if what you are offering is bollocks!
but then I guess that is always in the eye/ear of the beholder
all I can be is as geniune as possible
fear of being bigger than I am
what’s wrong with coasting?…coz coasting won’t get me where I want to go… how about I get there (wherever that is) and then I coast!
fear of not having the cash/lifestyle I’m striving for
so far so good
Good article in The Age this morning… Survival of the Fittest
fundamental business principles really but worth revisiting… read on
How to Shorten your Work Week #2
Given that I have been spruiking the work of Timothy Ferris for some time now, I thought it only fair that I actually practice what I preach! (novel concept that!!)
So yesterday I picked up his book again, The 4 Hour Work Week, and will literally work through it. Starting today with the “Definition” aspects of what you want by answering these first 2 questions:
1. What do happen if you didn’t do what you’re currently doing worst case?
2. Given worse case scenario, what can you do about them and how can you ‘fix’ them?
1…
no money for a while
unhappy business partner
disliked
disregarded
disowned
lose leverage on 11 year effort
responsibilities not been done
lose office/home
reputation questioned
lack of understanding
lose part of “identity”/story
drift (again)
committments may need to cease
2…
create new channels of money
lease out existing office/home
get a job!
bring in partners
create new path/story
outsource
insource
move away
pack up office/home
go on adventures (or at least, on the inside)
get lost in books
if not this business, then what?
DESIGN new lifestyle
find rich life partner!!
find significant others/mentors
read and learn and do
That’s enough for the time being. I’m sure there’s a lot more where that came from if I pondered longer but I think above is enough to start. The beauty of this exercise is that by going through #2, it makes #1 not nearly as scary and even possible… thank goodness!
How to Shorten your Work Week #3
continuing with Definition…
question #3…
What are the outcomes and benefits of more probably scenarios?
back in control of own time
moderate ++ income to be made
change of living arrangements
new opportunities to open up
partnership options with others
mentor budding entrepreneurial mothers
appreciation of knowledge
better role model
better mother
I’ll have a look at question #4 this evening and “sleep on it”…
here’s what I do when I literally “sleep on it” and it’s very simple… have a question in my head, mulling over it as I go to sleep. Then in the morning when I awake and do my morning journal writing, the answer will quite often pop up then, and if not, when doing the school run in the car during the day. What you do have to do however is be prepared to listen to the answer, whether you think you like it or not…
How to shorten your work week
care of Tim Ferriss – The 4 Hour Working Week
Personal outsourcing is still considered cutting-edge, but that doesn’t make it ineffective. When planned properly, personal outsourcing can deliver 10 to 20 hours of free time per week with a simultaneous increase in work output.
Need someone on New York time? Find a team in Argentina through Elance. Want to e-mail a 10-hour project at 5pm and have it completed in your inbox the next morning? Send it to AskSunday in India and have them work on it while you sleep.
You don’t have to wait for the future to enjoy the benefits.
I am a big fan of Tim’s and am slowly building his methods of working into my day… I suggest you do same.
Read on…
Fundamental to Tim’s success is the singular importance of being a “dealmaker”. I am going to quote a particular section directly from the book, but will not be doing that on a regular basis… you can buy your own copy in order to get the lot!
The manifesto of the dealmaker is simple. Reality is negotiable. The DEAL of the dealmaking is also an acronym for the process of becoming a member of the New Rich.
D = definition
E = elimination
A = automation
L = liberation
It is through each of these key steps that I will be working, using my own journey as the example… wish me luck!
