I think I have finally got the hang of this time management thing. I am already Queen of Lists. At work I have a list of jobs then I prioritise that into a list that I need to do quickly and one of tasks that can wait a bit. At home I write lists too; it feels good to cross things off and know that I am achieving something.
But it is the large projects that have always given me problems. I tend to see the whole huge task and get so intimidated I never start it. Now I am learning to break the big projects down into smaller tasks that will build towards achieving the outcome I am after. One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to clear out a cupboard a week and I have done this most weeks. So, rather than saying to myself ‘all the cupboards are in a mess, I need to sort them out’ then procrastinating because it is too big a job, now I have divided this task into bite sized chunks it has become achievable. It doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to sort out each one so it’s not too taxing on my time.
I started to apply the same line of thinking to the garden today. The back garden is big – 140 foot long and 50 foot wide, and we have a large front garden too. It can feel totally overwhelming at times as we both work full time and there are always lots of jobs to do at the weekend. But today we just looked at one bed and set about weeding digging and moving plants around. Mr Shoestring also sorted out some of the pots for the patio. This was easy enough as we just left all the bulbs in them from last year and they are all coming up and will look fabulous in a few weeks. We were out in the sunshine for about 4 hours and this was enough. We felt we had achieved our goal and our spirits were lifted by the warmth and the sun. Next time we go out we will focus on sowing seeds and sorting out the greenhouse.
When you don’t have a great deal of time on your hands you need to be smart about how you organise yourself and make sure you have time to do nothing too. Now we are just slobbing out and may even manage an afternoon nap!
How are you with time management and what are your top tips?
Julia says
We felt like that with our half-hearted attempt at decorating. Started about 5 months ago and had everything stripped bare and looking horrible in time for Christmas! Since then our motivation has just stalled as there is so much that needs doing.
Just for the sake of doing SOMETHING, we finished painting the dining room ceiling on Saturday and just completing that one thing has re-energised us! Now we’re planning which small area we can tackle next! Who know, by next Christmas we might actually be finished!!
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, of course! 🙂
And now I shall go and do that one cupboard I’ve been putting off! 😀
ChickenladyJane says
I like that! You will get there Julia