Time has once again gotten away from me. This usually happens when huge projects and catastrophes reign for a time. There’s nothing we can do to change what life has to throw at us, but we can get back to normal by goal setting as soon as possible. Now that my life has calmed down somewhat from the last bout of chaos, I am going back to organizing and managing my time.
My first experience with getting myself together and organizing my time happened right after my second child was born. I was a mess. The house was a mess. The baby didn’t let me get much sleep and I felt like a blob. I needed to get my life together.
Up until that time I was able to accomplish tasks in my life (school, work, job, housework, shopping) by the popular life-by-the-seat-of-my-pants organizational method. Up until that time in my life, it had worked. Now suddenly I seemed to have less time and more to do.
I started to search for ways to make my life easier. I started reading books on time management and setting priorities, books and magazines on managing a household and being a stay-at-home-mom. It started very simple at first. I just got up earlier than the children (no small feat of self-discipline, but well worth the work) and made a list of what had to be done that day. I created a schedule of sorts and then tried to stick to it. I got things done with those lists as a guide. There were plenty of days when I scratched out the name of the day and nothing else.
The main change in my baby day was setting nap and bed times. It wasn’t too difficult, just pick a time and stick to it, except for the fact that my second child didn’t like being put to bed. But once the schedule was established I seemed to have more time to clean and play. We went for regular walks and kept the TV off for most of the day. I felt more in control of my life and less like a slug. And the laundry was done.
As my family grew scheduling my time became a necessity. The daily list of chores and errands grew shorter. I found that what I had done before didn’t work any more and looked for new ways to schedule. I even created my own methods.
Then, in 1997, I decided I wanted to write for living. It seemed easy enough at the time – stay at home with the kids, write, sell my writing, get rich, and retire early. It didn’t work out that way, but what I learned has helped me to get even more accomplished – especially in my business goals. In business, as in life, there are certain tasks that MUST get done. I found if I laid my big goal out in tiny goals I could get a little accomplished each day. I had the first draft of my first novel written in a year just taking tiny goals each day.
Some basics steps in every time management system that are needed for people with messy lives:
· Setting goals, long-term and short-term;
· Making time to brainstorm by collect ideas in some kind of list or notebook;
· Making a schedule;
· Sticking to the schedule (occasionally);
· Setting priorities; and
· Giving permission to toss the system and go with the flow.
I have had days of very strict schedules and days with no discernable schedule whatsoever. There is rarely a day that I have not had some kind of list that I was working on. I don’t feel jailed by a schedule, rather, I feel like I have been set free. Like being my own boss.
Managing my time instead of letting it get its way with me has really helped in attaining goals. One goal I gave myself was the realistic goal of getting a book published within 10 years. I got it done in nine. (Ghostly Galion, published in 2006)
Knowing how to manage my time really helped me re-enter the workforce. It took some reorganizing of priorities, but after a few weeks I was back to getting things done AND having time to relax.
Now my daily schedule looks something like this (every day is different in the life of a reporter … and a mom):
5 a.m. – up and moving, a little stretching, a little Bible reading, a little writing;
6 a.m. – make the coffee, take a shower, get a load of laundry going, do up a few dishes;
7 a.m. – make a list for the day, drive to work;
8 a.m. – work has it’s own schedule – sometimes work and life collide (Strike that. Make it often work and life collide.);
Lunch – sometimes at work, sometimes at home;
Afternoon – interviews or the occasional afternoon meeting;
Evening – spend time at home finishing up housework, school work, or go to the occasional meeting;
Bed time routine – stretching, vitamins, water, relaxing, reading, fold that 5 a.m. load of laundry.
Here’s my weekly schedule at present:
· Monday – work, cover meetings, paginate one or two pages of the newspaper;
· Tuesday – Put the rest of the paper together, start a list of stories for the next edition, leave work early, go back for the occasional meeting;
· Wednesday – Work, meetings, gather public records and format them for pages;
· Thursday and Friday are set aside for interviews. Sometimes there are meetings. These are my “easy” days. If I worked a lot of hours I can take Friday off.
· Saturday – housework and free time and family stuff;
· Sunday – church, nap, free time, family stuff, getting ready for the week (making lunches, finish laundry, planning the next week)
The secret to making good use of your time is actually sticking with the time management system you have chosen. Over the years I have tried new ones and finally came up with what works for me. Right now I have a master day timer in my purse, a home calendar and the work I-Cal. It’s extra work to keep all three going, but I have to do it that way or I’ll miss something.
Here are just a few resources for you. Have a fun time organizing! It’s worth it.
Books:
· 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey – He has a whole series.
· The Messies Manual: The Procrastinator’s Guide to Good Housekeeping, by Sandra Felton – Her system for prioritizing and organizing the house also works with the office.
· One of the best resources, and cheapest, is a wire bound notebook. I have created my own day timers 1) using one page for a day and writing out the hours myself, 2) using one page for a week dividing each page into seven sections and writing in what needs to happen each day, 3) opening up the notebook and creating a two-page seven column format with hours written in. Yes, it takes time, but if you hit the school sales it only cost 29 cents for the notebook and a buck or two for the nice pen. I insist on using a nice pen. Is that a vice?
· When I have the money to spend I go to my local Staples or Office Max and shop for day timers. My personal favorite format is the two-page layout that has extra space for ideas and to-do lists. For my complicated life I need lots of space to write it down. A month-by-month planner with squares only just doesn’t work.
Computer software:
· i-Cal – what I use at work. For MAC users it fits in your dock and you can refer to it easily while running other programs. You can view week, month or day with a click on an icon. Every time something comes up I put it on my i-Cal. I don’t always get to everything, but I know I won’t miss the important events. There is lots of space for notes and contact information. Conflicts are immediately apparent and the color-coding feature is lots of fun to play with.
· Microsoft Works Task Launcher – I like this set of options, either keep organized on the computer or print out daily, weekly and monthly schedules.
Resources on the Internet:
www.flylady.com – Fly Lady became my hero when I reentered the workforce.
www.mindtools.com – Includes leadership skills, time management, problem solving, stress management, communication skills and career skills. Also has pdf downloads.
www.studygs.net – This site includes a unique way to calculate how much time you spend on everything. There are lots of tools here including school calendars, to-do lists and managing by exception.
www.vertex42.com – Offers free downloads of daily, weekly and monthly planners. Also has links to other planning and time managing websites.
If you don’t like these, just google “time management” or “day timers.” Be prepared for lots of advertisements.
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