Jane K. Cleland | Jane’s Time Management Strategy: Just Say No to Cookies

For many years, I was the official "cookie baker" for my family’s holiday get-
togethers. Chocolate chip cookies were my specialty, but I dabbled in sugar,
chocolate, apple, creamy fillings, and other gourmet styles, too.

As the years passed, and I became busier at work, I grew less entranced with
the prospect of baking dozens of cookies under enormous time constraints. In
fact, to me, baking cookies for the holidays became a duty, not a pleasure.
Then came the year when I was up past midnight completing the task. I was
irritated and snappy. The next day, I grumbled to my husband that this had to
stop. “I’m too busy to bake all these cookies!” I complained. And, cleverly, I
thought, I asked him to call my mother and tell her that I was no longer going
to bake cookies. He declined.