Time Management: How Efficient Are You?

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Had an interesting experience with TIME this week. Late Tuesday afternoon I went into my spam folder, looking for an e-mail I thought might be there. While scrolling through the list, I found a writing assignment that had been sent to me on Friday. I'd known the assignment was coming but thought maybe the editor had just gotten bogged down and that's why it hadn't been sent.

I opened the assignment only to find that the 800-word article was due the next day. YIKES. I e-mailed the editor, explained what had happened and asked if I could have until Thursday/Friday to turn the piece in. Luckily, he was fine with that. 

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A New Time Management System

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Yesterday afternoon a friend and I were e-mailing back and forth. (I am irrationally proud of the fact that I don't text. E-mail is good enough for me. Why, in my day we had to walk uphill in the snow both ways just to send one e-mail...) He wanted me to know he was cutting back on his professional speaking engagements and devoting more time to writing. He mentioned he'd written the equivalent of three articles over the last 5 days. 

This left me in the odd position of wanting to hit my dear friend across the face with a rotting grouper. It's not that I'm not happy for him. It's just that I've been struggling with my writing lately.

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Not Bad for 9th Grade Shop...

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Click to enlargeCheck out the beautiful bookcase my husband built me! Its installation is the final component of my writing room. I adore being in the space. I walk in instantly feel calm and inspired at the same time. Can't wait to put in some serious writing time in here.

Blair finished the bookshelves this weekend and as soon as the paint was dry I was loading them up with books. The second shelf from the top now houses my COMPLETE Stephen King collection. As these are not insubstantial books, I asked Blair as I was stacking them if the shelf could bear the weight. 

"Sure," he said. "I don't see why not."

He was silent as he watched me load more and more books on the shelf. "You know," he finally said, "Your guess is as good as mine on the weight. All I ever took was a 9th grade shop class." 

So far, so good. Click to enlarge

List Making - Is There A Better Way?

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My dry erase board with today's to-do listI have a friend I admire who's an action gal. Unlike me, with half my life spent huddled over a to-do list (either admiring it, adding to it, or crossing something off with a sense of satisfaction), my friend just does things. Phone call needs to be made? Bam. She picks up the phone and makes the call. Letter to be sent out? She's at the computer - type type type print - done. Need to get the dogs in to the vet? She's on the phone making the appointment. 

It's my goal to be more like her. Quit dithering around and just DO what needs to be done. Do it, move on, quit thinking about it. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

Part of my "to do" list fetish comes from a fear that I'll forget something. Heaven forbid I be less than perfect. But I think a lot of it is just showing off. A written record of "Sigh, look how much work I have to do!" Big, fat, hairy deal. Do YOU know anyone who isn't swamped? Me either. 

I think I'd get a lot more done if I just jumped into a task versus planning WHEN I'll start it and HOW LONG it will take and IN WHAT ORDER things should be done. Let go of the OCD and just do the work, Dena.

I think I'll start by erasing "Write blog entry" from my to-do list. ;)

Cheers,

Dena