However, there was one small challenge. In amongst the joys of playing grannie I had to fit in a few hours of my own work. Normally I avoid grown-up work when I've got kids to play with, but a very important deadline had queue-jumped.
The baby did his useful sleep times, the toddler was easily seduced by Winnie the Pooh (whilst his grandmother wondered how the heck she managed her own six kids with no DVD!), and I made some progress (but certainly not the normal output).
Picture this scene. We're now up to late Sunday afternoon. Baby's bopping, toddler's bouncing (why did I let him watch Winnie the Pooh?), the floor is even more littered, parents are still two hours away, dinner is starting to bubble and boil, laptop is humming on at the kitchen bench (anywhere else and someone might kill either themselves or the computer), important papers tango with the tomatoes, and my brain is starting to fry.
Dodging from task to task is a sure recipe for frustration, as well as being very inefficient.
Finally it dawned on me - I was feeling stressed and uncomfortable. Why? What was wrong? And then, all of a sudden it hit me.
'What am I doing?' I exclaimed to the baby, who just grinned gummily.
With a sense of purpose missing for the previous few hours, I zoomed in, switched off the distracting lump of metal, and bundled everything remotely looking like Big Person work down to where it belonged - my office down the hall.
Back in the kitchen I looked around. The child chaos was just the same but a huge ton of stress had vanished. And then I realised - the sense of freedom was exactly the same as my clients describe when I've taught them how to clean up their offices.
As I reflected, I realised this simple and common little domestic scene had at least three messages for us all.
1. Every item in our space is connected to us with an invisible energy cord. If you ask yourself, 'Does this energise me, or weigh me down?' you'll quickly know if you should shift or eliminate something.
2. The heavy feeling was also because I was trying to do incompatible activities. Multi-tasking has its place, but this wasn't one of them. The result was dissatisfaction and stress. I wasn't giving my best to my two dear little Tigger-types, and nor was I achieving anything with the proposal - I couldn't concentrate enough to do good work.
3. We all need reminders. I know this stuff, and I still got seduced by trying to do two things at the same time.
(And in case you're wondering, the proposal was easily handled once they'd gone - when I could concentrate.)
In summary:
1. Keep things simple.
2. Dodging from task to task is a sure recipe for frustration, as well as being very inefficient.
3. Learn from our children. Live in the moment. How many times do we wish we had more time with loved ones, and then we try to do other things at the same time? Even the cleverest people can really only focus on one significant thing at a time.
Robyn Pearce (known as the Time Queen) is the MD of GettingAGrip.com, an international time management and productivity training company based in New Zealand. Get your free report 'How To Master Time In Only 90 Seconds' and ongoing time tips at www.gettingagrip.com 
