Dear Winchester, ?I feel your pain. I've been there too. One morning several years ago, I woke up and realized that my alarm hadn't gone off. The power had been cut off, since I had no idea where the electric bill was, or any of the presumably increasingly frantic notices I'd been getting in the mail. I couldn't find any clean clothes, because the laundry was piled in heaps in the hallways. And as I gazed at it in despair, I realized... something was moving underneath it. Probably one of Silas' pets that had not been fed, and was desperately foraging for pizza crusts. I threw on some dirty clothes, and went to make my kids breakfast, and found the only things in the fridge were a few packets of Kikkoman soy sauce and an old bottle of capers. It wasn't that I didn't know what needed to be done. Or that I lacked the fortitude to do it. I just hadn't had any time lately! So I did what any self-respecting homeschooler would do when faced with an emergency. I rolled up my sleeves and got out my library card!
The very first thing most every book on time management will tell you, is to decide what your goals are in life. ?For most of us homeschoolers, a big one is making amazing learning opportunities happen for our children. ?And having the totally organized, totally spotless home that won't stand in the way! At the time, little Verna was dying to learn all the finer points of animal tracking, namely scat identification, and Silas was just getting into amateur taxidermy. But had we had time to pursue these interests? ?No! ?We'd been stuck in suburbia, where Verna was taking a keen interest in figuring out which neighbor's dog was pooping in our yard, and I didn't like the way Silas was eyeing the neighborhood crazy cat lady's pets. ?I needed to get it together and get them out into ?real nature ASAP.The next step is to ?make a spreadsheet "time log", ideally for a month, of how you spend every moment. ?Afterwards, you can color in blocks of time spent on similar tasks and analyze the results for time spent inappropriately on activities that are not in "alignment" with your goals. This should be no surprise to the veteran self-improver. ?Books on financial reform always tell you to start by creating a budget and writing down every teensy thing you spend money on. ?Diet programs always insist that you make a note of every morsel that makes its way into your mouth. ?If you live life at full throttle, as I do, it's a real challenge, but you gotta do it. ?I made a time log, and the results were striking.
For one thing, I noticed there were three main areas I was spending excessive time on, that were doing nothing whatsoever to further my goals in life.?
- Looking for lost stuff. ?One of these time management books quoted some study that showed that the average American spends 1-2 hours a day looking for misplaced or lost items. ?I was proud and delighted to observe that once again, I was an overachiever! Still, thinking there might be something to it,? I immediately went to the hardware store and bought stronger locks for the cages on Silas' "pets". ?No more lost 'possums in this house!!!
- Sleep. ?Now, these time management books tend to advance the claim that getting more sleep leads to better time management, because it increases efficiency. ?Pshaw! ?I can't imagine a stronger example of unproductive time. ?I solved this problem once and for all by stocking up on "Purecaf", a totally kick-a** product. ?It's liquid caffeine that can be added to anything- Milk! ?Beer! Or drink it straight in shotglasses! ?It's like edible rocket fuel and I completely swear by it now. ?(Free shipping on gallon sizes!!!)
- Now this one came as a shocker- making a time log! ?This was really eating up gobs of my time. ?Who knew?
Lastly, it was time to get down to business and actually do some of the things I have to do, but not before "letting go of perfectionism". ?This was such a hard one for me! ?Naturally, I felt that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right. ?And therefore if I couldn't do it right, I might as well not do it. ?Of course this is totally wrongheaded. ?Sometimes it's best to just throw everything in the washing machine, or the dish washer, or the microwave, and hope for the best. ?One way to tackle perfectionism is to schedule an activity and set a timer. ?You know the old adage, "the task expands to fill the available time"? ?So true. ?So if I decide ahead of time on a reasonable amount of time to complete a task, or at least get it started, set a timer, and stick to it, I'm often shocked how much I get done in a relatively short amount of time. ?Of course, this took some getting used to on my part. ?With my veins full of "Purecaf", the ceiling of our home is now full of indentations from where I banged into it every time the timer startled me out of my wits!!!
But I did get used to it. ?And I triumphed! That very year, Verna won the Scat Homeschool Identification Tournament in the Kindergarten division, and Silas taxidermed his very first xenarthra, in a winningly lifelike pose. ?Of course, I give full credit to their genius for their achievements, but having time to fully pursue them was definitely key. ?And you can triumph too! ?Now go get busy on your time log, and stay feral, everyone!
Wanda ***LOVES*** answering questions from readers. ?You can reach Wanda by emailing feralwanda1 at gmail dot com.
Source: http://stagbeetlepower.blogspot.com/2012/07/feral-fridays-time-management.html
kirby sarah palin muhammad ali cbi the shins atomic clock daylight savings time
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.