Moving from Procrastination to Time Management

 

Procrastination is the name of the game.

I am amazed to think of the amount of work I used to get through. One day’s work would keep me busy for a week today. E-mails were a drag on my life with literally hundreds coming in each day, of which only a fraction were important. All got processed. Today I get about 20-30 and some slip through the net. How can that be? I used to have an amazing memory, now I think it has turned to sludge.

The truth is I have got lazy. I am heading toward a vegetative state. I still do ‘stuff’, but at a different pace. Now I grump if there are two things in my diary for one day, where previously I would have delighted in a day that only had two things to do!

So what to do.  Take today for example, it is 3pm. What have I done?

• I have communicated with my sons via WhatsApp. My younger son has just moved into a brand new house. How lovely is that? Hence we were all viewing pictures of the house with furniture, but an awful lot of boxes to unpack. I don’t envy him & his wife, and would love to be there helping them, but as he is 11,000 miles away, a bit far to nip across for a few days
• I have read 3 chapters of a book about Creativity, including a chapter on time management and procrastination… (I’m not recommending buying it – just letting you know what I am reading)
• I have done the weeks shopping with my husband
• We have put more beanpoles up for our peas and beans which are growing well
• We have crawled about under the stairs trying to locate a hole through which we can use to connect the wiring for a new doorbell (Success – but it took quite a bit of time)
• I have spent about 30 minutes playing silly games on the iPad….
• I have read part of the newspaper (a Saturday treat)
• I have researched a trip or two

However, have I done any of the important things I wanted to do today?

•  I have been procrastinating for days. As mentioned it is 3pm, I am only just now getting to grips with writing the blog post which I hoped to do several days ago. I have been struggling for the last few weeks with “writer’s block”, I have tried several blog posts this week. About 6 I think. Over the last 2 weeks I have tried to get to grips with a guest post I have promised to do. That one I have tried 4 times. Nothing seems to be working which is pretty unusual for me. It is so annoying / frustrating. On reading the Creativity book (see above), Diane Ealy says that writer/artist’s block is a form of procrastination. Just start writing / drawing, something / anything and things will start flowing again (seems to be working!)
• I haven’t made any jewellery or done any metal work over the past few days. However I did deliver a batch of 22 items to the Assay Office In Edinburgh for hallmarking. That gave me a boost!

 

So time to concentrate on getting a bit of focus.

Here’s my list for the next few days. I am using a tip from my Creativity book (see above), which is to write down all the things you want to do in a day. Then compare each task with the one next to it, and work out which is the more important, give it a tick, and work down your list. then take the second task and compare it to every other task etc.

My list – no order / priority. Many need to be completed in the next 36 hours. I’ve just done the prioritising process. (see the ticks)

• write a blog entry √√√√√√√
• complete my guest blog entry √√√√√
• finish the piece of jewellery I was working on √√
• make a new piece of jewellery √
• tidy my workroom
• work out the best dates for our next trip √√√√√√
• pack for my trip to Ireland on Monday √√√√√√√√
• sort my emails √
• read the meeting papers for a meeting on Thursday morning (I’m away Monday to Wednesday) √√√√√√√√√√
• respond to a formal document √√√√√√√√
• review the investment information that arrived this morning √√√

And now the ordered list

1. read the meeting papers for the meeting on Thursday morning Complete 4th June
2. respond to the formal document Complete 4th June
3. pack for my trip to Ireland on Monday Complete 4th June
4. write a blog entry
5. work out the best dates for our next trip
6. complete the guest blog
7. review the investment information that arrived this morning  Complete 4th June
8. finish the piece of jewellery I was working on
9. sort my emails Partly done 4th June
10. make a new piece of jewellery
11. tidy my workroom Complete 4th June. I couldn’t go off and leave it in a mess…

Well, that sort of worked how I thought it would. Had it been left to me, I would have spent time on my email, tidied my workroom. pottered around, and then realised I was out of time to finish the work I needed to do…. It seems a good process. However it doesn’t really fit in with other stuff I have been reading, which says do the things first that further your big goals. That  would have prioritised the blog entries and jewellery. But I also know that the meeting papers are both urgent and important even though they don’t necessarily fit in with my big goals.

The final bit of the process is – Start at the top item and complete it before you move on to the next one. So I think I will try this process out for a while and see how it works for me. It must be better than my current chaotic process, where I am like a butterfly jumping from one flower to another…

So here’s hoping… You’ll be able to tell by the volume of stunning blog entries posted!

Update 4th June – see items in green. Not a total win, but at least I can go away with a clear conscience! Now I’d better write my To Do List to come home to! 

If you would like to Pin It, please do. Just click the red save button.