People often tell me I make things look easy. I think the reason I make things look easy is because they often are. A perfect example is the neighbourhood Easter egg hunt I recently organized. Please note that when I say “organized”, I am using the term very loosely. I sent out an e-mail to everyone on the neighbourhood e-mail list. It was the same e-mail I sent out last year.
So I managed to get some cred and kudos for doing pretty much nothing.
The e-mail included information about how many eggs to stuff per kid in your family, what area of the park to hide the eggs in (based on kiddo ages) and what time to have it done so that we would be ready to start on time. Oh, I also told egg hiders to bring plastic bags with them in case they came across some dog poop or other park treasures.
That’s it. That is me organizing the egg hunt. Note what I didn’t do:
- I didn’t stuff eggs for kids in the neighbourhood;
- I didn’t hide eggs for kids in the neighbourhood;
- I didn’t go and clean up the dog poop in the park before the egg hunt.
Surprisingly, with all that I didn’t do, I still got a handful of e-mails from highly appreciative mamas. They all mentioned how remarkable it was that with six kids and a business I could find time to organize the egg hunt. I reminded them that forwarding the e-mail from last year took me about 15 seconds. Regardless, these appreciative mamas unanimously came back with “Well, someone had to send it out – so thank-you!”
Perhaps a case can be made for the old expression: “if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it”. Maybe all of us busy folks have just figured out the real trick – don’t just make it look easy, make it easy!
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I love this! It’s so true that sometimes people make things a lot harder than they need to be.
But while it may seem “easy” to you, please don’t undermine your role! Like the other parents who thanked you, I do think you deserve kudos for taking the leadership role — someone needs to do it and not everyone is cut out for it. It’s an art and a skill. (Just like delegating!)
There are some great basic principles in this blog post. Really enjoyed reading it. And there’s a lot to be said about keeping things simple.
Julie – I totally hear you. I think that a common mistake is that people take things on and feel they have to do EVERYTHING. Delegating is a skill, and also being comfortable enough to take people up on their offers. If I’m ever hosting something at my house and someone offers to bring something, I never say no. I always say how great it would be them promptly tell them what would be most useful. LOL!
What a beautiful day for an egg hunt! The kids look so cute in the bottom pic
Nope – you can’t fool me. You have a knack for making things look/seem easy! Take credit where credit is due : )
How about coming to my neighbourhood next year and “organizing” an egg hunt?