Discovering Time Management II

During the first week of planning in order to find my 12 extra hours, I found that attempting to micro plan my week put too many constraints on my psyche and my day. It didn’t allow for moments to waver, and neither did it allow for life’s little roadblocks. Trying to plan out every hour can have an adverse effect on attempts to organize and maximize time.

Since realizing my initial mistake, I’ve tried a few different variations. The first 2 variations worked mainly from the same concept: fit as much of my variable tasks into my week as possible. The 3rd variation called for a change.

Each method seems to have its pros and cons, and it’s possible that one of the methods I found lacking would be exactly what someone else needs, so I’ll go through the pros and cons of each as I explain how I worked them.

1) Rather than filling in hour blocks, I picked 2 or 3 categories of work I wanted to focus on. In conjunction, I took notes detailing small tasks I wanted to accomplish within each category. This looked something like: Monday AM Exercise/crochet. Monday PM Write/read, with a list of exercises and writing projects I had planned written on the next page.

Pros: having a detailed list of options prevented me from sitting beforehand trying to figure out what to work on, having preset categories to work with allowed me to focus on one task without wondering if I was misplacing priority—I knew I would eventually give attention to everything.

Cons: this system didn’t allow for whims—I found myself choosing to swap things around in my week because on Monday I was sick and didn’t have energy for exercise, etc.

2) I separated my categories between hobbies and work, and set aside times to work on one or another and cherry pick which category I wanted to work in on a day to day basis.

Pros: this was a direct answer to my last system’s single flaw, as long as I spent some time on a work related task and some time on a hobby I would satisfy that day’s requirements.

Cons: This is a very rudimentary system and likely wouldn’t be able to satisfy my original intention which was to get to everything, to find those magical 12 extra hours.

During my 2nd variation I hit a wall. I could no longer see the end goal I had initially started towards, and it seemed I had wandered too far in the wrong direction. I wanted more than anything to just give up. I had started this process trying to simplify what had seemed to me an immensely complex system of day planning. I had left my research sure I needed three types of planners and two notebooks to ever do this right, and I tricked myself into believing that I could avoid all that.

What I needed was to re-conceptualize. When people decide to become runners, they don’t begin by running a marathon—at least, not successfully. They run as far as they can, every day, until as far as they can is farther than it was before, and they keep going. I was trying to run a marathon by attempting to fit a new exercise regime, a side gig, my personal writing, and my hobbies into my already busy life juggling my work, my love, and my friends. It was not successful. Enter variation 3.

This time I started out fresh. I ditched my lists. I cut my ties. There was just too much in my life to try and fit it all in at this point, and I needed to allow myself to work into doing it all. My biggest piece of advice, always, is that it’s okay to acknowledge when you are feeling overwhelmed: It’s okay to allow yourself a little less. I reevaluated what I needed in my life right now to feel happy and accomplished, knowing that I wasn’t giving up on anything, I was just putting them on pause.

My new list was simpler: Spend time with my significant other, exercise, eat healthier, write, read.

I gave myself permission to devote 1 or 2 days a month to my business until I started to attract clients, and to leave my side gig for a time when I was a little more prepared for the additional work. Eventually I would work into my old list piece by piece, but for now, this was okay. I begin each morning with exercise, getting together a nice healthy lunch for work, and hanging out with my love. I end each night with a little writing and some reading when I’ve hit a stopping point. It’s more than what I was managing before starting this process, but it’s still a work in progress. Once this becomes an easy routine for me, I’ll begin introducing other tasks from my original list until I find myself doing it all.

What interests me right now is looking into how meal planning and prepping could help to incrementally reduce my day to day time burn, and help keep my diet on track. Maybe in doing so I can find a few extra hours.