The time change is killing me. I feel like it should be 4 p.m.and then look at the clock and it’s 7:00 p.m.. I’m tired, and totally thrown off by this single hour change (which feels more like a 3 hours). I’m firmly against the time change, it’s a plot to destroy the precarious balance I have with sanity.
Also, I am firmly against children talking. Lucia asked me why I was so bloated last night. As I was speechlessly trying to process the fact that I looked bloated, she followed up with, “oh god mom, are you PREGNANT?? You look like you might be pregnant.” She wasn't kidding.
Further, I’ve come up against a real practical block that is prohibiting me from adequately implementing all my desired sanctuary enhancements. This issue surrounds my use of time. I’m right at the point where I want to do it, know what to do, but can’t find the TIME to do it.
So here’s where we might need to back track a bit, to free up some personal time and space so we can actually DO the stuff we need to do. So in one of these books I bought something struck me that I wrote down and didn’t know what to do with at the time, it was the phrase: “be intentional with your time.” I also wrote down, “be efficient in all you do and ask yourself, ‘what’s the best way to do this?’” So I’m definitely quoting someone, but clearly not organized enough to know who. Sorry nameless smart person, but I thank you for the advice. It's finally sinking in.
So that’s where I think some of us might need to start. And by someone, I mean me. I think I’m not always intentional with my time, and this is particularly bad when you have a pretty flexible schedule. So your day might start out with one thing, but then next thing you know you're going to a stationary store for colored paper to photocopy school announcements. It’s not so much that I wouldn’t PLAN to do those things if someone asked me to do it, but I am guilty of not owning my schedule, or properly protecting it, so I end up doing too many things on the fly and disrupting my intended schedule. So days can sometimes slip away very unproductively, despite the fact I have 10 million things to do and despite the fact I start with good intentions. Then there is a ripple affect thru the week if you mess up one day. I need to guard my schedule with my life.
So I think my strategy is going to be to look at my calendar and make certain things more specific, and put certain things into the calendar that aren't in there now. Like a workout time, phone time, email time. No multi-tasking, and no blowing it off, because the time is set. Simultaneously I’m going to ask myself how I can make things more efficient. Sometimes that’s silly stuff, like making sure that when I take Romeo to speech therapy I get out cash if I need it because the ATM is right there or that I use the wait time to fill the car with gas. Right now there's a good chance I forget the cash, and then an hour later I need to run out because someone needs some for a field trip...and then I need to stop for gas because I have none. Not so efficient.
The whole point of tightening up my schedule is so that I actually HAVE the room to do what I really WANT to do—not what I got roped into, nor what I'm stuck doing. Plus I want to make sure that I spend the least amount of time possible doing the stuff I don’t want to do….like dry cleaners, grocery shopping, Target etc. Well, sometimes Target is fun, I'll be honest.…but it’s a money and time suck, so I really hate it.
How else will I have time to work on my home, to tidy up the stuff I want to tidy, to have time to actually read, or take a class, or have more friend time. I’ve got to go thru my schedule like a foreman on an assembly line trying to figure out what's messing up production or slowing it down, because time is money (and sanity) and I need more of it. I’m going to become lean and mean with my time, because otherwise I’ll just be constantly making the excuse, “there’s no time” when maybe there IS time, it’s just being used by things that I would rather not use it on.
Share your time tips with us (click here). Sometimes it’s simple things that you haven’t really ever thought about , but then you hear them and you’re like, “Wooowwww, that just blew my mind and saved me 10 mins a day”. If I get 6 of those great suggestions from you fab people, I’ve got an extra hour right there. Boom.
I'm going to end with the fact that I've got a little crush right now on embroidery. I'm super excited for this jacket to come from Velvet (arrives Thursday) because it's just the coolest topper over a white tank. Satisfy my embroidery itch....AND it's got pom-pom ties. Do you really need anything else?
Signed, ME {lv}
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