YouWish

A recent report from Boston Consulting Group concluded that “Most women around the world are over-extended, over-worked, over-stressed and under-served by consumer providers. They want time leverage, more value and suppliers that specifically understand them.” 45 percent said they don’t have “enough time for me.”

I think we can all relate to this problem, but it does indeed seem to be true that women suffer more than men.

Why is that? 

Men can multitask and specifically in their working lives, but whether we like it or not men tend to be fairly hopeless at multitasking across their work, family and personal lives at the same time. Conversely women don’t have a choice. They have to multitask across all areas and are just bred differently to accept this. This means women invariably do have to carry the burden of more things than men. They do have to look after the home as well as the job. There are exceptions, but most men take much less responsibility for doing things outside their careers. We may not like it, but it’s a fact!

But what is more important is that we find solutions to help women deal with this issue rather than simply debate a subject that is discussed all to regularly. Increasingly women are setting up businesses that fit with their needs and their requirement to multitask. At You Wish we certainly believe that there is a need to win back some time and this is truer of women than men. That’s why the happiest customers we have tend to post several wishes at the same time, as they get more answers and more potential solutions in one, rather than seeking singular results in multiple places.

We want to hear more from women about how You Wish can help them specifically find more time for themselves and make more use of that time. We want to hear from service businesses that really value their customers and make a difference to their lives.

It may or may not be helpful to read Trendwatching’s new report on “Nowism” or why currency is the new currency”. 

This just celebrates the fact that our society wants everything immediately in real time. I am not sure that is always the answer, as sometimes it’s nicer to have some time out to reflect on what you want. Anyway let us know what you think. Let us help address the imbalance in people’s lives and particularly women’s lives

My mother died 3 weeks ago. It was very unexpected.  I was sure that she would make it through the final 2 doses of chemotherapy and we would take her on holiday to Sicily, as we were planning. Yes she was fighting cancer, but she had successfully fought off the first part. It seemed such a certainty to me then. But sadly now it is all over. As my godmother said to me afterwards, becoming an orphan is never easy, whatever age you are. How right that is.

My mother was a fighter. She was an Australian who had lived in many parts of the world. She had married my father here in England and after their divorce began a nomadic trail, living in different countries and trying out new places. She had lived many adventures and was afraid of nothing and no one. She had a full life. There were things that she wanted to do still but she had few regrets. She had successfully come to terms with everything that had passed in her life. And in the end she had settled back in France, near Cognac.

I know that when she died her biggest regret would have been not saying goodbye, because we had so many plans. We were also going to move her to Paris to be closer to her friends and family. She would have loved to have gone to Sicily again, once she was feeling stronger. She would have loved some wine, nice food and amusing conversation, as the sun settled over the sea. But actually she would have been content that she had tried most things and done most of what she had wanted.

She hadn’t taken up the Internet or email yet as she loved the phone, but I know that she loved the idea of You Wish. She loved the concept of getting other people to do the work for you, of getting stuff done, of living life to the full. She could see no reason for not doing what you wanted and no reason for carrying around a large to do list. There was no time like the present to say you wanted and try and get it. And that’s the thing. We all only have one life and yet we all have tons of things that we never get round to, especially for ourselves. Why wait any longer. Now’s the time to post what services you want that will make your life better or more enjoyable. Is it someone to do your garden or is it a programme to get you fitter and healthier. Whatever is it my mother would recommend you crack on as you never know how long you have and death and taxes come to us all!

Thanks

Chris

…is apparently Paris Hilton.

No, I’m not kidding.  And nor apparently is her lawyer, who should have been held in contempt for such an obviously baseless description of his client.

So busy she’s never seen a mobile phone bill, and doesn’t know who does see her mobile bills.

So busy she can’t remember what she was doing two weeks ago and simply Googles herself to see where she was.  Even though she does little more than attend parties and go on holiday.

Personally, if asked to say who the single busiest person on the planet was, I’d probably come back with a not very original answer along the lines of one of the many heads of state battling with recession, war, poverty or selling climate change initiatives to big business.  Or possibly Her Majesty, who still has a fairly punishing schedule of engagements despite being well past retirement age.  And if I was feeling flippant I might even suggest Madonna’s adoption lawyer was a better candidate than Paris Hilton for this title.

And yet, there are times when I would pick someone relatively unknown.  My mother-in-law, for example, who is in her sixties and spends much of her life attending meetings in far-flung places as an advisor to UNESCO and whose work will have a far greater long-term impact on the world than Paris Hilton’s.  

Or a friend of mine who is a stay-at-home-mum of three kids aged 4-13, one of whom is profoundly autistic.  Her time is almost entirely taken up with delivering the kids to three different schools, sorting out the housework and planning wildly varying meals to accommodate the likes and dislikes of her family.  And giving her kids the attention they need outside of school in order to flourish – and they do.

Or people who run their own companies and who have the commitment to live and breathe that business, while still managing to find some space for family and friends.  

And sometimes – like many of us, I suspect – when I’m pushing up against a deadline while simultaneously trying to sort out my son’s tea, listen to what he’s been doing at pre-school and juggle a phone call with a couple of urgent email exchanges, it feels like the single busiest person on the planet is me.  It’s all a matter of perspective.

And there’s something I can do about it at least.  Rather than privately wishing I had a babysitter, or a personal menu planner and grocery shopper, or a PA to handle correspondence and phone calls so I can get on with doing the things I can’t delegate, I should probably get on and post these wishes on the site.

But right now there’s one overriding wish I have: I wish I was only as busy as Paris Hilton…

Hello, everyone.  My name is Melanie and I’m a chocaholic.  I’m also joining Nick on the YouWish blog, so I’m looking forward to getting to know you all.  You’ll be glad to hear chocolate is not my only interest, but starting with one of your favourite things is as good a place as any!

But despite my status as a self-professed chocaholic, I eat surprisingly little of the stuff.  This is not because I have masses of willpower, or because I am self-disciplined enough not to go hunting down a bar of chocolate if I have one in the house.  Far from it.  And I’m really not fussy or some kind of chocolate snob, either – until very recently I was a sucker for a nice bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk or Fruit and Nut.  And there was always room for a Leonidas praline.   In fact, if I go any further this will simply start reading as chocolate porn and I shall have to go and lie down.

But you catch my drift: I love chocolate.   All was well until I was diagnosed with coeliac disease, when some of my favourites were suddenly ruled out on the basis they may contain traces of gluten.  But that still left me with Giant Buttons and all was well.  I then found out I had a secondary intolerance to lactose because of the coeliac disease.  This very nearly caused a breakdown – what would life be without Cadbury’s?  The final nail in the coffin came when I discovered that I’m also intolerant to soya.

I’m not bad at tracking things down.  And I used all of my abilities to try and find chocolate that avoided gluten, lactose and soy, pretty much to no avail.  The only chocolate left was dark chocolate and, much of the time, the only dark chocolate I could eat was too bitter, or too coarse in flavour to be truly enjoyable unless it was used to make something else.

Come Easter, and I was miserable at the prospect of missing out not only on an egg, but indeed on any chocolate at all.  Fortunately, as I walked through Spitalfields Market on Easter Saturday, I remembered there was a Montezuma’s shop there.  Might they be able to help?  Fully expecting them to say no, I decided it couldn’t hurt to at least ask.

It was most definitely worth the effort.  Not only were they able to point me in the right direction, they also fed me samples of chocolate that was safe for me to eat and checked ingredients lists to ensure I didn’t end up eating something I’d regret.  The thing that really finished me off was them pointing me in the direction of their ‘create a kilo’ service, where you can choose your basic chocolate from dark, milk and white, then add two other ingredients of your choice to create your own take on the perfect bar of chocolate.

The reason I’m mentioning them today is that I’ve just received my own designer kilo of chocolate.  It is just as delicious as I imagined it would be – dark chocolate with brazil nuts and orange oil – and it has reminded me what I love about shopping.  

It’s not the hunt for that bargain or for the perfect item or the product that will comply with X, Y and Z restrictions imposed: whether I’m walking round shops or getting RSI trawling through web sites, it’s still a pain in the neck.  It’s finding a shop – and in this case a web site as well – where the service is as important as the product, and the product is better than you could ever have hoped.

If you want to join me in chocolate heaven, you can find Montezuma’s web site here.