Time

I was going to begin with the quote that talks about all of us having the same 24 hours in a day, so why are some people more productive than others; then I read this article. It makes a valid point: we don’t all have the same resources and experiences. That truth takes a lot of the pressure off. I shouldn’t compare myself to others and what they’re able to accomplish. I should focus on how to make my life work and make the best use of my time.

Why are we talking about time today anyway? I thought we were going to continue with relationships and particularly those I have with my mom and friends. I will get back to that in another post, but as I was reflecting on my “words for the year,” it occurred to me that organizing, finishing and relationships require a proper use of time, and I probably don’t use mine effectively.

“Show me how you spend your time and I’ll tell you what’s important to you,” says Kent Clothier. As I started to look at how I spend the hours in my day, I had to admit that there was room for improvement. In fact, I thought about tracking my activities for a week just to see where the time is actually going. Perhaps I will, starting Sunday. I know time is definitely being wasted and it would be interesting to see just how much and what activities are involved. I’m sure Facebook is one. Phone calls are another. I’m not prepared to give either of those up (though I did recently reduce my Facebook friends list by 66 people), but I will need to set better boundaries around them.

I think I work best with structure. Give me a routine to follow and some form of accountability (I’m an obliger, remember) and things go well. Give me days that are loosey-goosey and at the end of them I’m vexed that “nothing” got done.

The problem with part-time work and inconsistent shifts is that it makes for days that are also inconsistent. Add in extra shifts according to the needs of the employer and we’re all over the map. A few years ago I tried to schedule my days on a weekly calendar but when it was clear that I wasn’t following it there was no point in continuing. I apparently don’t hold myself accountable very well. What to do? What to do?

Julie Morgenstern’s book, Never Check E-Mail in the Morning, was written to address workplace problems, and I admit I haven’t read it (yet). But checking e-mail in the morning is one of the things I do. I don’t usually check my workplace e-mail at home; I just think that something important will come in in my personal e-mail and I wouldn’t want to miss it. That leads me into Facebook and we all know what a time-sucker that can be.

So, help me out, readers. Are you an effective time manager? What  strategies work for you? I’ll start with tracking my activities as noted above and see if that helps me eliminate wasted days and wasted nights. In the meantime, I’m thankful I no longer have to feel like a failure because I haven’t achieved as much as Mother Teresa or Michelangelo. That is a huge relief.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, readers! While I've done an abysmal job so far of blogging consistently on my website (and have deleted the old posts), once again I am going to try to do better. Today I'm starting Jeff Goins' 30-day 500-words-a-day writing challenge. Stick with me, and you might find daily posts for at least the next thirty days.

I have a few "words of the year" for 2019: organizing, finishing and relationships. If you haven't heard of having an overarching word for the year, I first heard about it through author Gretchen Rubin, and you can read some of her thoughts here.

Neat and tidy

So, why organizing? It seems obvious, doesn't it? I have a pretty disorganized home, especially when it comes to books and papers, and I need to get it under control - once. and. for. all. Years ago Julie Morgenstern's book Organizing from the Inside Out was very helpful in guiding our filing system plan, but we need to go through and pull out papers that no longer have value and file away the ones that are lying around. We also need to go through our bookshelves and sell or donate any books we no longer want. I know this may aghast my reading-loving friends who cannot part with books, and I hear you since I'm an author and librarian, but just like physical libraries, our bungalow has limited space, for books and everything else. 

It's not just papers, of course. Somehow we've inherited or acquired lots of other things that need to move along - clothes, ornaments, tools we no longer use, etc. I admit that I've kept things for my children for far too long (kids' clothes and toys, for example) when they should have been passed along and enjoyed by other children. Mine are now young adults in their early 20s and while they both hope to get married and settle down some day, short of a surprising change in their circumstances, it looks like that is still several years out. In the meantime, I could be using my cedar chest for my own out-of-season clothing (instead of baby and toddler wear for future grandchildren), and the room that houses our freezer and filing cabinet could be cleared of so many unused things from times passed.

I own four books on the subject of organizing, including Morgenstern’s and Sandra Felton’s TheMessies Manual. Anna Shepard’s Express Housekeeping and Donna Smallin Kuper’s Cleaning Plain & Simple focus more on cleaning, but do have chapters on decluttering. I’ve also recently borrowed two additional books from the library: Dana K. White’s How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind, which has a whole section on decluttering and another on making changes that last, and Erin Boyle’s Simple Matters, which tells you how to live with less and end up with more, starting with decluttering, simplifying and organizing. Clearly, there’s more to it than book acquisition and book knowledge. As with everything else, it’s going to be the application of principles that brings about the desired transformation. But I am determined. This is the year!

This brings me to the end of today's 500 words. What are your thoughts on organizing and decluttering? Do you have a word for the year?