As we go about our daily lives we will encounter obstacles, achieve goals and frustratingly make little progress in other areas. Some days it seems like we’ve been going round in circles getting nowhere and other days there is nothing we can’t accomplish. But how do you measure success?

As a home-schooling mum, some days just being able to tick everything off in the diary on a particular day feels like a mighty win. Other days it can be getting through the maths lesson which I’ve been told is “too hard” – and I’ve secretly agreed but we kept going and got it done anyway (maths isn’t my strong point). Another way I measure success is when I see Dearest Son really engaged in something. For example, he is really interested in time-travel, multi-verse theories and the like. So, this term, I challenged him to find some videos and sites relating to that. Oh boy, did he! I sat with him to watch one of the youtube videos about the possibility of time travel – quantum physics included thank you very much. He was glued to it. I planned dinner. In terms of success however, a major victory and continues to be an area which has him hooked and has helped me get my meal planning done for a week at a time!

Another way I measure how successful my efforts have been is my cleaning schedule. If I’ve managed to keep to it by Thursday night (which I have this week), I’m a happy bunny. If however, by Saturday I’m just getting to the kitchen, stress levels run high. It also helps if I’ve done some meal planning, got the shopping organised and done a little more de-cluttering. That’s the kind of week it has been this week and I am very grateful for that – it doesn’t always go that way.

Some days, I’ll go out of the living room and think, “Everyone is fed, Dearest Son is doing his work, there is a happy calm atmosphere in our house”. If that doesn’t count as success, I don’t know what does.