I joined Bria‘s writing goals accountability thread on Romance Divas‘s forum and have been thinking about time management a lot lately. The other night, Andi and I were talking about how this past year has flown by so quickly. There’s lots of theories out there and I’m not going to dig into any of them here.
I’ve always been bad at time management strategies. Stuff either happens or it doesn’t. For me, this usually means it doesn’t. I’m a major procrastinator: Why do today what can be put off ’til tomorrow? This accountability thread has been keeping my on my toes. I did great the first week and the next three days, but then with the holiday looming and the realization that other obligations also need to be met… well I earned my first unhappy face. I don’t know how the rest of this weekend is going to go. I’m nearly done with two of my goals (journal entry and blogging), so that just leaves 2 hours of writing on my WIP for today. Sounds easy you say? If I didn’t need to live in the real world, sure, piece of cake.
Most of the time I find myself hyperfocusing on something that allows me to escape from things I don’t want to do or think about. I shouldn’t be surprised when DD and DS whine that they don’t want to do boring but necessary jobs around the house. No one likes to (do they?). They certainly don’t have the best role models.
I’ve always been amazed and a little awed by people who manage to fit so much into their lives: scouts, sports, work, hobbies, entertaining, as well as all the little daily maintenance things that make their lives run smoothly. I like the idea of “found minutes”, but I think I’ve lost so many minutes I think they’re all curled up with the dust bunnies. I know they add up, but I find it takes time for me to get into tasks and then once there, I tend to hyper focus and my perfectionist tendencies override any permission I’ve given myself to do the task for “just fifteen minutes.” Because you can do ANYTHING for just 15 minutes, right?
I also find I lie to myself all the time by pretending I work well under pressure with tight deadlines. Papers in college were always started the night before they were due and that worked out ok. However, as I get older, I find I want to enjoy more quality time, but the guilt of other things left undone ruins that. I don’t want to put everything off to the last minute any more.
I think the best quote I ever read was “We all have routines, but is the one you have working for you?” I’m learning to juggle my commitments, but finding that sweet spot of balance is difficult. I just need to keep at it and establish better routines that actually work for all the areas I need to balance instead of just going with the flow and ending up caught in the eddies.
I was always a tv hater, then I got an overly energetic job. *sigh* I’m trying to wean myself away from Three Sheets which makes me laugh like crazy. I can see the attraction, and it’s worse than the internet.
There’s lots of time in a day–however, what you do with it is up to you, life does take priority, and I’m hiding myself. I can’t seem to make myself open track changes. I need to spend some time rearranging my schedule.
The writer’s strike pretty much killed our TV watching. I don’t watch during the day any more, not since the kids were little. Evenings are pretty much an hour or maybe 2 after DH gets home and we eat.
I do lose many hours, not just minutes on the net. That’s been a huge time sink since around ’93 in one form or another. I’m just tired of looking at the clock or date and going, ‘Ummm…how?’
Kaige, you’re a MOM. That means you have time management skills. Kids are counting on you. Hubby is counting on you.
But I bet with that streak of perfectionism running through your veins that you will always think you should do better. It’s a curse.
I like the idea that *you can do anything for just 15 minutes* because really, sticking with something for 15 minutes isn’t a big deal. I can do that.
I just have to take the first step. Like you!
“Kaige, you’re a MOM. That means you have time management skills.”
You’d be surprised.
“Kids are counting on you. Hubby is counting on you.”
This may be true, but that doesn’t mean things don’t get left undone. It’s amazing the things you can rationalize as having low priority sometimes.
“But I bet with that streak of perfectionism running through your veins that you will always think you should do better. It’s a curse.”
Ahh… there ya go. That’s only part of it though. I will admit a grain of truth to your statement, however, I can see what lies on THIS side of the monitor, dear.
“I like the idea that *you can do anything for just 15 minutes* because really, sticking with something for 15 minutes isn’t a big deal. I can do that.”
I got the idea from FlyLady.net I wasn’t successfully fly-washed, but there are things I did pick up from it. It’s probably why having dishes left in the sink when I’ve just emptied irritates me.
“I just have to take the first step. Like you!”
You can do it. Once you start off with those baby steps, they get easier to keep going. I still try to keep them small and manageable, but momentum is definitely a key, no matter what you’re going for.
Okay.
You ingest what you’re writing for me, and I’ll ingest what I wrote for you.
hehe