Overwhelmed

Sometimes it just seems like there is never enough time to get everything done… actually that’s most days for me, LOL. I make my plans in the morning and, well, maybe I’ll get some of it done.

It’s rare for most of us to actually accomplish everything we tell ourselves to do. Too many of us actually, metaphorically, bite off much more than we can handle. Or maybe we don’t know how to organize as well as we should? Then again some of us just don’t know when to say “No”.

“If you want something done, ask a busy person.”
~ Benjamin Franklin… or was it Lucille Ball?

Part of the problem with not finishing all of your planned tasks during the day is the resulting frustration and sometimes the feeling of failure. It’s NOT failure if you did manage to accomplish THINGS and you merely optimistically AND unreasonably overscheduled yourself. But then again the next day the cycle repeats itself and the frustration grows. It doesn’t even pay to be a procrastinator, you never manage to get around to it.

And then there is such a thing as life — and somehow life doesn’t seem to stick to a schedule. Something always comes out of the blue to throw all of your carefully planned agenda totally off-track, I mean not even in the realm of completion. Parents may have their offspring’s school suddenly demand an audience. Commuters can’t magically control traffic jams and mass-transit schedules. Sudden family calamities pop up and your immediate response is highly recommended. Office employees may experience their boss’s sudden change of direction. Even home-based workers have to deal with power outages, annoying marketing calls (when you are busy and on the receiving end, it’s annoying!) And then there are always your own personal health issues.

Read up all you want on time-management skills, some of them certainly sound like they would, or should, work, but they are kind of generic.

•  Make a plan, a list of what needs to be done.
•   Be realistic as to how long each step should take
•   Be honest, what are YOUR biggest timewasters?
•   Allow for needed breaks
•   Assume a reasonable allotment of time to “work”– NOT all 24 hours.
•   Prioritize
•   Try to establish a routine
•   But if you get “blocked”, move on to the next task.
•   Organize what you need to work with.
•   Delegate tasks where you reasonably can.
•   And finally, prepare to SCRAP the whole plan and write a new one!

Actually that last step is very important. Once you are conscious of your work/responsibilities/want-to-dos and can assess how long something actually takes, re-work your schedule. You’ll probably have to re-work it every week for a few weeks before you even come close to something that works. And if LIFE (that can be one of those four-letter words) changes, be prepared to change with it. You’ve heard the phrase “Man makes plans and G-d laughs”, be prepared and versatile enough to adjust.

But don’t ever let yourself feel like a failure. 

If it was easy to get everything done for everyone,
there wouldn’t be so many time-management courses
or books being sold.

.

The Ability to Multi-task ~ #MondayBlogs

Like many of us I need more hours every day… and a few more days in a week wouldn’t hurt either. Somehow I don’t think the days are going to get longer. With my luck those extra days wouldn’t be weekend days and then everyone would just be mad at me for having to work more days between breaks. I probably wouldn’t win.

The only solution left is doing more than one thing at a time, I believe that that productive and busy people call that multi-tasking; I call it a desperate act of the seriously overburdened. I type while I juggle phone calls, read while I cook, and return emails from my smart phone while I move from room to room. I don’t have time to sit in one place for very long being idle.

While I adore working from a home office and never having to deal with a messy commute, I also envy those folks who have on-site office hours away from casual phone calls, door-to-door solicitors, and home/family chores. I am fairly disciplined and manage to meet my deadlines, but sometimes it is a struggle to get the respect of others for my time. I already let MOST phone calls go to voicemail and explain to others that I am on deadline and can’t speak…

The truth is that life gets in the way of schedules. Urgent phone calls, unexpected visitors, last minute assignments and our own sometimes inability to concentrate will force us to adjust everything we had planned. There are a few proverbs and other sayings with a similar message, but my personal favorite is from Michael Chabon, “Man makes plans . . . and G-d laughs.”

A Busy Life ~ #MondayBlogs

So many schedules to keep up with, everyday pressures from work and family, bills, cleaning, traffic jams, getting the kids’ to school on time, expectations from your boss… No wonder we feel so overwhelmed so much of the time.

No matter what your lot in life is, your job, your home life and all of the things others depend on you to do, it is so easy to believe you’ll never catch up. Magazine articles and caring relatives will offer you advice – prioritize, concentrate on one corner at a time, turn off the TV, turn off your computer, put yourself on a schedule. It’s all sound advice and yet you still feel like you are drowning.

Prioritize, it sounds so easy, after all, what is it that you have to get done? It’s depressing when you run out of room on the paper to write your list; there are only 24-hours in a day and you really need to allow for a few hours to sleep, eat and even just go to the bathroom! You feel like you will never get it all done.

Actually lists are good, it just is what you are listing that could be the problem. Make a list of your goals, your dreams and your wishes. Star the big ones, the ones that you really, really, really want or need. Now list the steps you need to take to reach a particular wish or goal and that becomes the start of your new to-do list. And if some of the things that used to be on your daily agenda have no purpose towards your goals – does it really need to be done?

Don’t go through the rigors of life “for others” – live and work for YOU. While your goal may take a while to achieve you will feel accomplished with every little bit you gain towards realizing your dreams. Knowing that you are getting closer to the things you want will give you the impetus to climb out of bed in the morning and dive right in.

Re-evaluate your to-do list now and stop putting pressure on yourself for all of the things you were doing to appease an employer, look good in your neighbor’s eyes, pay off loans for the things you didn’t really want…

Today is for YOU, you deserve it.