Archive for Time
Dealing with Overwhelm
Posted by: | CommentsI had someone ask how to deal with overwhelm.
First, take 5-10 deep breaths. This relaxes you, so you aren’t thinking as stressfully.
Next, get everything you are thinking about/worried about on paper or in a to do system so you know what you need to do. Not having things written down, gives you a constant nagging feeling like you are forgetting something. And you probably are.
Take some more deep breaths because you are probably panicky again. Tell yourself you have all the time in the world for what is important.
Chose 3 things on your list that are calling to you the loudest. If you can’t narrow it down, put the top list on scraps of paper. Turn them upside down and mix them out. Pick one out. Sometimes you’ll feel a "man, I should have chosen this one instead." That’s your intuition. So do the one the intuition said.
Once you get started on something, anything, it is easier to keep it going. It’s the starting that’s the hard part.
Put on a timer so you keep working until a break – don’t open facebook, twitter, call a friend or do something else until your break. Otherwise you may waste a whole day procrastinating.
If you are still having trouble getting started, ask yourself what you are afraid of. It’s easier to counter, if you know what is wrong. Overwhelm is a feeling brought on by the thoughts you are thinking. "I have so much to do, I’ll never get it done, it’s not fair, I am always working," is usually unhelpful and puts you in an overwhelmed state. But saying, "I have time, I am enjoying this moment, look how interesting this project is," puts you in a curious, better balanced state.
Overwhelm can be sneaky too. You start to feel overwhelmed and next thing you know you are watching TV, surfing the net or eating ice cream. You are oblivious to the overwhelm for a little bit. But, when you are done you are even further behind. So keep an eye out to what you do to pretend you aren’t overwhelmed.
And watch your expectations. Many times people get overwhelmed because they are trying to be perfect at all things and driving themselves batty. You are lovable whether your to do list is done or not.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed?
Time Management Program
Posted by: | CommentsIn my blog comments someone asked what time management system is right now. I tend to play around with them and move to a different system when I find I start getting huge backlogs. This allows me to get rid of to dos that I don’t want/need to do.
The system I am using right now is Lean Kit Kanban with a word doc.
My word document is filled with todos (also called the master list). Then on Sundays I place 5-10 to do’s under each day of the week (later in the week usually has less so I can add what comes up during the week.) I add things to the Word doc as it comes up either under a particular day or at the bottom for next week. I like word because I can add bold, different colors, etc. And I can add the whole email task if I want so I don’t have to search for it later. I add a deadline to the task if it has one. Very fast and simple.
If I’m not at the computer I put tasks in a little notebook I have and clear out in the evenings.
Then for Daily planning I use the Lean Kit Kanban. It’s a system that uses post it notes in columns like you would on a whiteboard. You can put whatever columns you want. I like To Do, Doing and Done. The To Do column has everything I want to do that day, including daily routine items. You can use different colored post its for different things.
For me:
- Dailies are blue
- Financials are green
- Different clients get different colors
- Personal is pinkish
- Blog is purple
- Projects are orange
The doing column never has more than 5 items, though I prefer 3 items. These are my highest priority for the moment. This ensures you don’t have too many works in progress at one time.
When they are done they get to go to the done column.
In the morning or the night before I move my dailies to the to do column, add anything from Google calendar, and whatever is in my word doc for the day. (Daily chores are in the chore chart which we do after dinner, so they aren’t in this system.)
Here’s part of my Kanban this morning:
You can read more about Personal Kanban 101 here.
I like this method because it is fast and is not complicated. It is easy to personalize.
Have you found a time management system that is working for you?
How to Survive a 14 Hour Workay
Posted by: | CommentsLast week was full of long hours for a project I was working on with someone. Thursday ended up being 14 hours. When I told a friend that this weekend she said I must have been exhausted. That’s when I realized, I didn’t become exhausted that day. Here are some tips to get through a 14 hour day.
- If these are the norms, work on figuring out how to lesson your hours. Can you manage up by asking your boss what is coming up so you can prepare ahead of time? I don’t think working 14 hours every day is healthy.
- Exercise first thing to give you energy during the day. I took a short 20 min walk around the pond in the morning.
- Center yourself. Breathe, pray, meditate. Get your head and heart on straight before diving into work.
- Take lots of breaks. I took 5 minutes every 30-90 minutes. To walk around, straighten up, read a magazine article, breathe, talk to the kids, stand outside and look at the flowers. This kept my energy up all day.
- Eat lunch away from the desk. I had a short 10 minute lunch. But, I ate it outside in the sunshine.
- Have your family pitch in for dinner. I knew there was no way I could get dinner on the table that day. So my husband and daughter got dinner ready.
- Don’t let thoughts like, "I shouldn’t be working these long hours. This is ridiculous. I don’t want to be working." drain your energy. The more you resist what is happening, the more your energy fades away. Concentrate on what you are doing, wherever you are. Then later if you want to work out a plan so you don’t have to work so long next time, go for it.
Do you have any tips for long work days?
Why I No Longer Have a Paper Calendar
Posted by: | CommentsI didn’t buy a paper calendar this year. I had been phasing it out and now it’s completely gone.
I use Google Calendar, and it has simplified my life. You can see if it might work for you.
- You would no longer have to rewrite birthdays and anniversaries from old calendars. Or recurring appointments. You can set up daily, weekly, monthly and yearly recurring events.
- You can have your calendar anywhere. I can get it through Google mobile on my phone and there is no synching I need to do with other calendars. You can see it from any computer with internet access.
- You can import other calendars like holidays, TV show schedules, moon phases and people you work with closely. All you need to do is go to Other Calendars on the left sidebar. You can choose to browse public calendars, add someone else’s calendar, add a calendar if you know the URL, or import a calendar from things like Outlook or iCal.
- You can see all the calendars at once or only the ones you want to see by clicking on the calendar (s) in the left sidebar.
- You can get reminders through email, sms or as pop up reminders so you don’t miss appointments. You can even send events to others.
- You can get a daily agenda emailed to you every morning.
- Quick Add adds to the calendar faster than you could write it on a paper calendar.
- You can see daily, weekly, monthly, or four days with the click of a button
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- Searching calendars is easy with the Google Search right at the top of the calendar.
- I have gadgets that tell me the time in other time zones since I have clients all over the world and another gadget that tells me when my next meeting is.
What calendar systems works for you?
Help, I Am Paralyzed with What to Do Next
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever been at your desk, surrounded by papers and todo’s completely paralyzed by what to do next? Or in the living room with kids running around and the house in disarray without the energy to do anything?
When this type of overwhelm happens to me, I do four things:
1. Take 5-10 deep breaths. This calms and lessens the anxiety.
2. Straighten up a bit wherever I am. If I’m at my desk, I clean up the area in front of me. Or if it’s not work time, I tackle a part of the house I am in. The clearer space creates clearer thinking.
3. Then I write out whatever is in my head – to dos, things I’m worried about, or whatever else is using up space in my head.
4. Next I pick 5 things I need to do, usually the most important 5 if priority is clear. I write them on slips of paper. Then I choose one to do. If I get a good, "Ok this is what is next" feeling I proceed. If I get the feeling I need to be doing something else instead, I will do what intuition says. But, once the task is chosen I don’t allow myself to waffle or I won’t get anything done.
Some days I need to keep picking slips of what to do next. But usually once I get the positive flow going I get momentum to continue on my day.
Photo by Jeff Gunn
Not to Do List
Posted by: | CommentsWhen the to do list gets too long and burdensome, it might be fun to create a not to do list.
For example:
I am not going to…
- Feel guilty constantly
- Plan every minute of my day
- Work straight through without breaks
- Sweep every day
- Drive things to school that my kids forget
- Let magazines dictate how I will look and live
- Watch TV more than 2 hours in a day
What are you not going to do?
Getting to the Root of Procrastination
Posted by: | CommentsI have a project I haven’t touched in two weeks. Why? I don’t know. I have forgotten to ask.
One of the main reasons I don’t procrastinate as much as I used to, is that I’ve gotten into the habit of asking why.
We often know we are procrastinating. But, instead of getting to the bottom of it we make excuses like, "Well I’m just a procrastinator" or "I’m just lazy".
Firmly held beliefs about yourself are usually easier to deal with than, "I don’t want to be judged harshly with the finished result, so I’ll do it last minute knowing it wasn’t my best work." Or, "I’m scared I don’t know what I am doing." Or, "I am overwhelmed by the scope of it."
Instead of telling ourselves the truth we lie to ourselves when we only admit we procrastinate.
Until we get to the why, it’s harder to overcome procrastination.
Next time you realize you are procrastinating, ask yourself why?
Then you can talk back to your fear, ask for help, break down the project into smaller pieces or try making the task more fun.
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You can find other ways to deal with Procrastination in my Procrastination eCourse.
Put Down the Phone and Listen
Posted by: | CommentsAre you reading this while talking on the phone or listening to your kids or surfing in another window?
Are you still trying to multi-task?
Multi-tasking is really inefficient – only making us think we are getting more done. But for many of the tasks, they end up taking longer and not done as well.
It takes time to get back into working mode on something.
Say you are writing something, then the email beeps. You hop over to check it out.
Now back to writing. Where were you? Your brain stalls a few minutes getting back into writing mode.
Or you bring your laptop into the meeting. You thought you were listening as you did some research online. But, whoops you missed the last 10 minutes and have no idea what is going on.
Or you are annoying someone you are talking with on the phone because they hear click, click, click of you typing.
Some things are fine multitasking – go ahead what the treadmill while watching TV or reading. (Though they say you walk better without those. But, if it’s the only way to get you on the treadmill, go for it.)
You can fold laundry while watching TV. Or wash dishes while chatting with the kids.
But if you need concentration to do something, it’s not helpful to be doing something else. How many times have you tried to multi-task only to find the work longer or you lost one of the things you were multi-tasking.
Take a look at how you are multi-tasking today and see how it’s working for you. Or not working for you.
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Photo by Carbon NYC
I Wonder as I Wander
Posted by: | Comments
A Winter Hike
I used to wander all the time. Exploring what us kids called Monster Lake. Flowing through the Illinois prairie. Taking long walks along the sidewalk with no destination. Looking for new places. Taking hours at the browsing the shelves. Talking through the woods with no fear of getting lost.
It gave me a chance to think or just be.
I remember a few years ago when I was at a conference, wandering the streets of Chicago and spending hours at the Art Institute.
I rarely wander anymore. At least not alone. We often take the kids for hikes and other exploratory adventures.
But, not by myself. So I lose the inner exploration that happens with outer exploration.
Now it seems there always needs to be some sort of destination. Errands are bundled to save time. I am longing for the freedom to wander.
OK, down on my calendar for Saturday, Wander Time.
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This post was inspired by the GoVenture at I Love Life and was originally a journal piece. Photo by me.
It’s also about time to Plan Valentine’s Day.
Take some wander time at Jen Louden’s Virtual Retreat [Affiliate Link]
When Life Isn’t Simple
Posted by: | CommentsOK, I have to admit, all of the sudden my life is not so simple.
Opportunities came and I took them. So now I am working on a couple speeches for a couple groups, planning a spring retreat, working with the declutter club, building a web site for someone and helping someone launch their book.
And for some reason Feb is the month we have dentist appointments all over the place, I need to go to the DMV, I’m making dinner for 28 robotics teens, and selling flip flops for my son’s all nighter. Someone mentioned planning for their graduation party in June and I started panicking. I’m supposed to start that already?
Then there is my work, family, friends, home and volunteering of normal.
So I have been doing lots of planning and thinking this weekend and came up with some ideas to prevent overwhelm:
- Remember that most of "too busy" is all in my head
- Keep the vision of why I want to do the things I decided to do
- Make easy meals and have my teens cook some
- Use something I did for a teleseminar for the speeches
- Get my haircut the day of the first speech so I don’t have to worry about my hair
- Make sure quiet time and exercise are first things of the day so my self care doesn’t fly out the window
- Take lots of breathing breaks
- Scheduled some fun/downtime
- Make sure I do my weekly and daily planning
- Keep deciding on the next right step to take
- Ask for help
- Let go of perfectionistic ideals
What can you do to prevent overwhelm this coming month?
Photo by Shawn Zlea
