Try as I may, I just can’t get the job of independently wealthy woman of leisure. I tell you though, I do a BANG UP GOOD JOB of it. Quality work, I tell you. But then reality hits and responsibilities cave in. It’s trite, of course, but the whole run-but-can’t-hide thing rings bells.
So we’re home and I’m finally embracing the fact that I’m now running a nonprofit (I know, how in the heck did THAT happen?!) and still have an unfinished paper that hangs over my head like ballast weight on a fraying rope. I figure that the rope can hold out until February or so, because it will take 2-3 months to get comments, submit more drafts, and get to the point where I actually can defend. There is a lot going on in this program director role and an equal a lot going on with the research project — the third in my triumvirate of semi-paying professional activities — and some-days I am not so good about balancing and prioritizing.
So how do others do it? What is your system of organization? How do you allocate time for a variety of activity? Do you use masterful discipline to stay on task appointed time? Do you schedule big blocks of time for one activity at a time, or do several things slowly at once? How do other people fit in all the random bits of work, knowledge, responsibility, volunteering, meal planning, home renovating, tantrum controlling, butt wiping, phone answering, bill paying, walking, talking and breathing?
Internets, I need your secrets.
Meagan | 03-Dec-09 at 12:14 am | Permalink
I use the “Things” task manager app for iPhone. I’m still not greatly productive but I seriously wouldn’t get anything at all done without it. Still annoyed by the lack of repeating tasks though.
Something that helps me which would work with any task list: I call EVERYTHING a task. Like feeding the cats. Making dinner. Breaking an art piece to tiny steps. This way, when I’m having a hard time getting started on anything (aka every day), I can do something quick and easy, and as my checked off items pile up I get some momentum for the harder things.
kitty | 03-Dec-09 at 12:58 am | Permalink
When you find out, let me know.
Seriously, that paper hanging over your head makes my knees knock. And life with small children is so much harder. Ten years up the road you will look back and think *how did I do it all?*
Michelle | 03-Dec-09 at 7:04 am | Permalink
I’m awful. It’s my life lesson, and I’m failing it. Miserably. But then some days I’m amazed with myself, and I think those are the days I stop multitasking and focus on one project (or a complete chunk of one project) to get it off my mind. Feels so much better.
But without nap time (hers, not mine), I’m a miserable mess.
Harriet M. Welsch | 03-Dec-09 at 10:48 am | Permalink
I struggle with this as well. I have a similar collection of tasks. I’m a stay-at-home parent finishing a Ph.D. and working a variety of paying and non-paying small jobs — teaching, consulting, volunteer work, etc. First, some days will be easier than others to juggle and that’s okay. But I couldn’t do it without lists. When my system is working well (and I definitely fall off the wagon from time to time), I make lists the night before of what to do the next day. I also have a master list of tasks. I start the daily plan by pencilling in any fixed items (appointments, regular gigs) and then fill in the remaining blocks with the unfixed items. When my time’s up, my time is up. Unless there’s a looming deadline, in which case I’ll throw out the system and try something else. Within the larger tasks (like the dissertation), i have a list of things that need to be done that I can play with. If I’m sick, for instance, I can’t do a lot of good writing, but I can log things into my bibliography. I’ve learned it’s good to have options, otherwise I’m tempted to do nothing when I’m feeling under the weather. I also found this book helpful for getting around my usual procrastination methods when faced with too many choices of tasks: Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. Much of it is not just applicable to dissertations, but to any large complicated project.
Emmy | 03-Dec-09 at 8:46 pm | Permalink
Um, Holly…I want to know *your* secrets. How do you do so much, volunteer so much, share so much, think so much, write so much, have so much creative energy, and have any thoughtful energy available for say
surprise doorstep brownies?
amazing portraits of newborn children?
salads with pear bunnies?
photo projects?
long treatises on health care, aids, poverty, homelessness, intolerance?
You ARE doing something REALLY right. What is it? You already know.
kcwebber | 04-Dec-09 at 3:13 am | Permalink
I agree with Emmy’s comment. I read your blog and wonder about all the questions she asked you. You are certainly doing something right, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
Painted Maypole | 04-Dec-09 at 9:44 am | Permalink
i’m terrible at balance as well. i do find that the less time I spend on the computer the more I get done. the computer just seems to suck time out of me. in fact, I best get off it now.
chrissieroux | 06-Dec-09 at 6:35 am | Permalink
Lol @ Emmy–was just going to post the same exact thing! Holly! You do a million things! All at once! And really, really well! Maybe what you’re asking is how to do it all without feeling totally exhausted and overwhelmed and like you’re not doing a good enough job? If so, I don’t have the answer; my hunch is that’s sort of a built-in factor to all of this. Another issue is that we’re all surrounded by amazing, strong, active, engaged women–it’s easy to lose sight of things. Maybe we should try to go spend a day with those Ladies Who Lunch–would probably make us feel a whole lot better.
alejna | 09-Dec-09 at 8:18 pm | Permalink
I got no secrets. I live in chaos and I get almost nothing done unless there’s a major push for a deadline. And then I work my butt of for a few weeks, after which I collapse into a puddle of goo and spend hours every day trying to find a pair of clean socks amidst the piles of clutter.
Also, what Emmy said. Totally. You rock, woman.