Time Management–Working From Home
Well it’s already Friday, huh?
Time flies when you don’t have to work . . . Or does it?
I’ve been off of work and school for the past 5 days and contrary to what you might think, I actually have been working my ass off!
There is so much to be done, so much I want to do and thus I feel like I must be using my time wisely. My money is sort of on lockdown anyway as I have a ‘go-away’ vacation coming up and soon enough I will be full time employed to myself & internship and part-time employed with an actual job that I will explain at a later date.
It all adds up to the fact that this vacation wasn’t really meant for fun but more to get some crucial things done and relax a bit too. I’d say it’s about 75% work and 25% fun. Sadly, that’s what a real week is like for the 9-5’er. I don’t want that life. I want to choose my percentages . . .
So how am I doing?
I’m kicking major ass!
The first thing I did was hunker down and create a massive, headache inducing flowchart of all the things I want to do and steps I need to take to make them happen.
(notice the nails which haven’t been painted since November! . . . *psshh culinary school)
Overwhelming right?
As crazy as it looks, it has to be done. I need to see that big picture so I always know where I came from and where I’m going. Truthfully, there are so many other branches missing from that but these are the main things I need to focus on soon.
Where do I start?
Good question. I basically took a look a 2011 calendar and figured out what would fit where. For instance, working on my next blog/website and having it launch in September when I’m buried deep in the Friday Night Dinner is probably not a great idea. Similarly, getting my holistic life coach certification is probably also not a good idea while I’m still in culinary school. (duh)
So, I took out the chunks of things I can handle now like t-shirt design, creating detailed to-do lists for my other blog and started writing my e-book about how to get the most out of your WordPress blog.
Then, I printed out a simple time management schedule, filled in my week with things I already had scheduled and started blocking out the free time with broken down tasks and time limits.
Then I would sit down at the computer or floor and work! I kept track of the time and made sure I had a mini break in between each project to re-group. I’m so happy with the way it’s turning out. It really gives me good insight as to how productive and motivated I’ll be once I really have the time to give it my all and it also gives me a roundabout time in which how long certain projects take so I can plan even better.
I’d have to say that the hardest part is to make sure you get some REAL down time and punch out of the proverbial clock. Its tough to stop a project when your making serious progress, but burning out will make things sooo much worse. Fun and rest is a big part of life(and time off) which is why I have a good chunk open at the end of the week when Chris is also off from work to just wing the day and have some fun.
Also, I’m finding it slightly difficult to feed myself well. Ironically, this is something i need to structure a bit. I find that I wake up have a small breakfast and coffee and just work work work until I am so hungry that I get up and munch on whatever I can find. I think it has to do with the fact that I haven’t really food shopped thoroughly and we have been eating away from home a lot of nights this week. I’m stopping this habit immediately by implementing healthy lunch and snack breaks and setting up menu plans again where I cook wholesome nutritious meals that will be available anytime. It will do wonders for me in the long run and Hello!? Get me to practice what I preach!
So yea, pretty excited about the future of my time. I have many ideas about how I am going to handle all I have to do and it involves lots of organizing, scheming and PAPER! Ill post my best strategies as I go along.
Passion based work is NOT easy and its pretty damn risky, but means so much to me to create my own dream so I’ll do whatever it takes!
What are your best time management tips? Would you at all be interested in an e-book written by yours truly about getting the most out of your WordPress blog so you can stand out and get the traffic you deserve? (subscribe to my racy newsletter for the latest details)
The Inferior To-Do List
Lets face it, my To Do list is always packed with stuff. Most of the tasks are things that are not fun, pleasurable or relaxing. In fact, looking back in the past few months, I cant remember a time that I just had a day to let go and not worry about anything. Sure, I give myself at least 10min of self-care a day and I do feel relaxed happy when I am working on my cooking experiments but those moments are getting few and far between.
The problem is, I signed up for this. THIS is the time where things get hard and where practicing balance is so damn important. It’s a fierce reality that these things are not going away. I must accept that my “days-off” are going to be filled with catching up on things and not much fun. I refuse to give up because I know that it will all be so worth it in the end. I already feel it is!
The only things I can do to make things better for myself is to change my attitude and start working smarter. The attitude is definitely a work in progress, but working smarter is a bit easier.
I often look at my long list and get too overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that I just bury my head in the sand and don’t want to even do ONE thing. My boss says its Paralysis by Analysis. I googled that exact term and sure enough, that’s exactly it!
So, for now on, I am going to be using a more structured To-Do List that looks like this . . .
A while back, Katie posted this concept of a Roman To-Do list. The concept is genius! You split your list into 3 columns. The first one is a list of things that MUST be done that day no matter what. The second is things you SHOULD do but could get away without doing. The third is for what you HOPE to do or MAYBE can get done.
I tried this once before and it was really eye opening. Seeing all the things that had to be done and things that could wait relieved a lot of stress. And like she says, you can also use this as a way to balance out your week. For instance if you are crossing off too much from the first two columns and not from the HOPE/MAYBE column (which is usually filled with more fun activities than not) then you can SEE that you need some me time. Or, you can flip it the other way and see that you are messing around too much and not getting enough done.
The return of the Roman to do list has started back up today and already I feel much better and have much less pressure as I feel more relaxed knowing that if I don’t get certain things done, its not the end of the world!
Are you a To-Do list maven? What are your best time management tips?
