"Time is of the essence..." Part 3

I am having trouble getting things done on a daily basis. Sure I start off with high hopes, I am ready to go with my "to do" list, freshly marked, with shiny blue ink. Sometimes it can be shiny black ink, that's right--I mix it up! I'm a wild one! I will freely admit it! But, boy do I love a "to do" list. It's the promise of productivity--so to speak! I love crossing stuff off my list! It is such a great feeling! The problem is that I so easily get distracted by shiny things! There are so many shiny things! And kitties! I very frequently get distracted by kitties! I love kitties! They are so cute and fuzzy! Ah, see! There I go again! So to go along with my "Time is of the essence..." series (can we just take a moment to reflect on the fact that I have a series? This post happens to be part 3 of the series--it is a mini-series, if you will!) Okay, we are done reflecting or getting distracted, whatever you want to call it! Where was I? Prioritizing! I have found that prioritizing is definitely the way to go...

This works especially for people who get distracted or have small children (although I feel distractions and small children are synonymous! If you want to talk about attention spans?) But we won't! Because right now we are talking about prioritizing. Okay, so here is how this works! You take your "to do" list and grab a shiny red pen! Yes, I just said--shiny red pen! We are way beyond the blue and the black pen here. We are about to embark on a whole different realm of craziness, the red pen is the way to go. Now, write down the 3 most important things you want to accomplish today! For example, I am the mother of a four and half month old so my priority list would be... Shower, caffeine intake, and then food (perhaps an energy bar of some kind.) See? Then I would take my blue pen or black pen (your choice) and I would write down whatever else I would like to accomplish for the day, i.e. dishes, laundry, dust, vacuum, clean living room, bathroom, bedrooms, closets, litter box, pay bills and make dinner would probably be in there somewhere-- I suppose!

This works and I will tell you why! So here it is... as follows. As long as you get your priority list done for the day-- as far as I am concerned, you have been productive! You got done what you needed to get done... And if you happen to have occasion where you are able to venture further down on your "to do" list without getting distracted--well I say, "well done you!" And could you let me know how you did it? Oh, look a kitty!

"Time is of the essence..." Part 2

I have wanted to expand on my previous post for quite awhile now, but I have been having trouble trying to find the time to do so. Ironic, I know, since my last post was about making time and how "time is of the essence..." I had it all planned out! I wanted to talk about multi-tasking an how hard it is to find the time to do things, so I end up using this particular skill--a lot! But I wasn't quite sure how to convey such a concept into words. I suppose I could tell you stories about my day to day, but honestly, I didn't feel like boring you to tears! I thought about giving you tips and tidbits- that I have found helpful along the way, but the writing just seemed to fizzle out!

So here I am thinking about how to write this, how to talk about multi-tasking in a way that--Oh, wait a second! Can you hang on? I have to put some laundry in the washer, I'll be right back! Okay, I'm back! Sorry about that! Oh, hang on! Let me just switch hands. I've got my little boy in my lap here, holding him with one hand, while I am trying to hunt a peck with the other! All right, where was I? Oh, right, multi-tasking! This is where I got stuck the other day, so I decided while I was thinking I might as well do some exercises! It was really funny because while I was doing some sit-ups, my little boy thought it was hilarious as I was sitting up and down-up and down! It was quite entertaining for him! Oh, I think my little boy is hungry! I should probably feed him and while I do that I can read my book!

I find that multi-tasking is a skill that... Wait a second! Time to switch the laundry over. On my way I should probably put the little boy down for a nap and while I am at it I should probably feed the cat and then figure out what we are having for dinner. I worry sometimes that this whole concept of multi-tasking could get away from me! I fear at some point my husband is going to come home and find diapers in the litter box, socks stewing in the crock pot and our cat, Gratch in the dryer! (At which point I feel as though I would be obligated to change Gratch's name to Fluffy!)

Oh! I just heard my little boy on the baby monitor! He is awake from his nap. I have to go scoop him out of his crib and then change his diaper. While changing his diaper, we will talk about life, love, politics, any future colleges that he might like to attend and of course, make funny faces at each other!

We are back! I am just going to turn on the news so I can listen to it while I write. Oh, and now my little boy just spit up all over himself and wait a second... Yup! All over me! We have to go change, thus creating more dirty laundry! See, even my little boy embraces this whole multi-tasking thing!

Well it is now the end of the day and even though I feel like I have not fully conveyed this whole concept of multi-tasking to you--it is time for me to call it a night! We will just have to do this another time--perhaps over lunch! Because now I have to put my little boy to bed and then go spend some quality time with my husband. It is our time together to watch television, talk, relax and you guessed it--Fold the laundry!