Reflections on Time Management

This seems ironically relevant today.  Time management is making my head spin out of control this morning.  I feel like there are so many deadlines and so many interesting projects that I want to work on,  taking the time to know where to start seems almost counter productive to just starting.

There are so many new projects: coaching homeless youth, the ADHD Coaches conference in Chicago and all of the resources and people I met last week as I explore this as a coaching niche, there’s bills that need to be paid, business contacts to write back, cleaning and laundry are both necessary, but pretty low on that list.  For school, I’ve got three classes, several hundred pages of reading, 3 papers, and a research project.  I’ve got a need too, to make sure I eat, sleep, exercise and see my friends.  In the past, I might start sacrificing some of the things in this last category.  In my 30s, that’s less of an option, even if I feel society wants me to.  Growing into myself is hard. The craziest thing about this list is that this is what it looks like after I’ve said NO: no to dancing, no to rock climbing, no to feeling obligated to do the dishes right now.

I feel like I’ve gotten a lot accomplished in the last few weeks, but a lot of items on my list just feel like they’re things to check off.  Over the last year, I’ve spent time learning to recognize accomplishment in small things but this is still hard.  My brain always generates one more possibility of something I have to do.  When I haven’t done some of them it’s easy to say “oh, there’s another thing I didn’t do”, instead of looking at it objectively as “Oh, there’s another great idea, what of all of these does it make sense to act on?”

I think that once or twice I have forgotten about a meeting, but that honestly can happen even if I’m not stressed or overly busy.  I’m much more likely to feel or be late on the majority of projects.  One coping strategy I’ve got is to contain the damage to one or two projects and keep up with the rest.  However, this isn’t terribly good for my psyche, either.  I can think about several experiences from my last job, including management of a project  on case review,  and how I managed a class this fall.  I don’t like disappointing people, and even the admissions coordinator had some concern about my bandwidth available for additional new projects this spring.  I need to come up with a system that honors my own strengths, weaknesses and preferences so that I continue to feel excited and productive about my own life.

Some of the techniques that I already use include saying no, and having a better idea of what I’m capable of in a certain time frame.  I am also learning to find balance, and accept that  I am human, and that excessive effort doesn’t always increase the quality of the results.

I’m going to have to say no more frequently.  I also will benefit from starting the habit of looking at my week again first thing Monday morning and planning out general blocks of time to work on things.  I also choose to accept that my schedule is of my own making and I can alter it, and negotiate differences if it is not working for me.

What I need to do this week to manage my time: take a look at my top three priorities/projects and decide what % of my time I can spend working on them.  These are school: NSCC, and Invite Change—classes only;   Coaching Niche: ADD/ADHD & new Resources in Seattle & Chicago; Climb On Coaching/working with Seattle street youth;  In addition to that, I must sleep, eat, and take care of the rest of my life: bills laundry and more.  It’s funny to realize that looking at this list, I’m sitting here thinking it’s not fair that I don’t have more time. Once this paper is submitted, I choose to spend 20 minutes with a calendar looking at how the end of this quarter is going to work.

Time management and efficiency are going to be my keys, not scheduling myself to the gills.  Scheduling to the gills leaves me burnt out, resentful and really unhappy.  I need flexibility in my life, as well as the grace and aplomb to CHOOSE MY PRIORITIES and NOT SELF IMPOSED GUILT.