It’s Thursday and I’m Crafting my Life! February’s theme is time management. Last week I talked about the nature of having no time. This week, I’m talking about seizing the moment and doing what needs to get done.
I ended last week’s post by saying that the only time that you really have is right now, this very moment. The idea can be a little woo-woo. It can also be very, very practical. Today I’m going to expand on the practical side of embracing the present, since time management is pretty solidly grounded in the practical.
Picture this – I am at my computer, checking my email. It’s something I do many, many times each day. If you want to get an accurate view of the scene, imagine yarn and papers littering my desk, two children climbing on me, and toys on the floor. I see an email that is going to ask me to do something that I don’t want to do. Maybe the Thing I’ll be asked to do isn’t even that bad, but it’s a Thing anyways and I don’t exactly need one more Thing to do, you know? Or maybe I know that I was supposed to do this Thing three days ago, but I forgot, and now I’m feeling not only overloaded but also guilty. Fun times!
At this point, I could make a few moves. I could open Twitter to distract myself from the Thing that I will be asked to do, and never open the email. I will then spend 30 minutes trying to be witty via social media with limited success, and move on to try to tidy and make lunch. Then I will check my email again later, feel the same knot in my stomach, and continue to not open it. The Thing will hang over my head and I will grow increasingly resentful. Who needs this Thing? I most certainly do not!
I could also open the email, craft an apology that I can’t do the Thing right now, and then promptly forget about it. Again. Inevitably I will get another reminder, and I will be back at square one.
Or I could just go ahead and do the Thing, which will turn out to take me precisely 11 minutes. I will not enjoy those 11 minutes, but I will save myself much more than 11 minutes in avoidance tactics, excuses, guilt and wasted energy. Once the Thing is done I will never have to do it again. I have freed up mental space and accomplished something with my time.
For the longest time, I was a chronic email avoider and Thing forgetter. It didn’t exactly serve me well, in retrospect, but I did it anyway. I’m not even really sure why. I suppose none of us enjoys every task laid in front of us. I particularly don’t enjoy the thought that I have somehow let something slide, since it doesn’t jive with my self-image as reliable and capable. Not wanting to deal with those feelings is totally understandable. But the truth is, avoiding them only makes them worse, and wastes valuable time. Frankly, I just don’t have that luxury anymore, my time is far too precious.
I am trying to implement a ‘tackle it now’ approach to the little tasks that pop up in my life. It is a work in progress, but it is having the desired effect. And instead of heaping my plate higher, which I maybe sort of thought would happen if I just did everything that cropped up, it’s clearing it off. Sometimes I can’t do it right away, but I generally can manage it within a reasonable time frame if I set my mind to it.
How about you? Are you a Thing avoider, or a Thing do-er? And do you have any tips to share as I learn how to embrace the present and get things done?
February’s Crafting my Life series is about time management. Exciting? Debatable. Important? Absolutely. On the last Thursday of the month, which just happens to be the 25th, I will include a link up. To participate, write a post on this month’s theme and add yourself to the list. Then go off and read everyone else’s ideas and thoughts and be inspired! Check out January’s link up to get a feel for how it works.
Typically, I am a thing doer.. Just get it done and over with… especially the smaller things. I tend to put off the bigger, more time consuming things longer. However, at 41 weeks preggo, right now I’ve been pushing off everything longer than normal
They say it takes 3 weeks to build a habit and I’ve found that to be true. Just push yourself to do it for 3 weeks, and then it should be ingrained into your routine. Good luck!
.-= Chrystal @ Happy Mothering´s last post ..Toddler Activities: Non-Toxic Playdough Recipe =-.
I am a Thing forgetter…sometimes legitimately, sometimes conveinently
There’s always a Thing you just don’t want to deal with…but doesn’t it feel so much better to get that Thing off your “to-do” list?
My big one is calling a silly dentist. A simple phone call, that’s all it is. And yet day after day I keep “forgetting” or actually forgetting. Sigh.
.-= Carrie´s last post ..The Olympics are Coming! The Olympics are Coming! =-.
Very apt. I am a chronic Thing Avoider, although after having my son I became a Thing Doer, because, hey, those five minutes of peace might be the only five minutes you have all day to get a thing done. Now, however, I’m back at work and sliding into my old habits. I also just have sooo much more e-mail to contend with and 8 hours a day in which to avoid it. But I’m trying to get back into the Super-Mommy-Thing-Doer mindset. Thanks for the reminder.
.-= Sarah´s last post ..Santa Baby =-.
Unfortunately I am a Thing Doer. I check my email every few minutes — I have a Blackberry that I’m addicted to.
As soon as I hear it vibrate, I check my email, respond or do whatever the sender is asking me to do. I am constantly “doing” and not relaxing. Which of course means that I am always “on the go” or “working”. I have a real problem with sitting still and relaxing and wish I really could just take in life. I am hoping to be less of a do-er this year and more of an avoider. HA. How odd is that – from one extreme to the other!
My goal this year is to pay attention less to the to do list and just have more fun with my daughter because she really deserves my attention.
Maybe it’s about time I give up my Blackberry? I have given up twitter though and that has freed up ALOT of my time. Phew!
.-= Cheryl´s last post ..Crafty Lady =-.
Whoops. Forgot to say… sorry I have no advice or tips. I suck at time management
.-= Cheryl´s last post ..Crafty Lady =-.
It’s like you were writing about me!
Papers all over my desk, and cat trying to get on my lap as lids tug on my sleeve for attention I check my email for the 100th time to avoid the “thing” in the inbox from yesterday that I really don’t “feel” like tackling. And the laundry and menu-planning and decluttering that I can use to help me stay off the “thing” too.
All too familiar scene!
.-= *pol´s last post ..It doesn’t hurt to ask. =-.
are we related?
this is exactly what i’m doing right now …… twittering/flickring around emptying my inbox
PS: thanks Chrystal for the 3-week tip – i will implement stat and hopefully this time next month i will be Thing-Doer (was this from Seuss?)
.-= pomomama aka ebbandflo´s last post ..wordless wednesday ; hiding behind …. =-.
I’ve frequently read about the technique where you’re supposed to look at each Thing (email, piece of paper, etc) one time only and immediately decide if it’s “Trash/Recycle, File, or Do.” I completely and totally don’t succeed at that.
.-= Lady M´s last post ..Another Holiday Gone Awry =-.
I don’t know. Good old wishy-washy me as usual. I’m somewhere in the middle. I forget a lot of stuff, although I’ve gotten better since the kids started school because I couldn’t take the daily humiliation any more. I write things on the calendar. I have clipboards taped up inside the cupboards for each kid and for extracurricular stuff, so even if I realize I’ve forgotten something I can at least find the cursed paperwork now. Carrie’s thing about calling the dentist? Totally get that. And part of our problem with putting things in their proper spot right away is that we don’t so much have proper spots for everything — but we’re working on it.
.-= Allison McCaskill´s last post ..************Not fair or sporting in any way =-.
I like to do important things right away. Things that are less meaningful usually get put off until they’re meaningless, and then they’re just forgotten
you mean i have to DO THINGS?!?!?! totally sticking to the woowoo side of it.
hahahahaha. i couldn’t resist a silly comment.
love your series of course!
.-= robin´s last post ..these boots =-.
Amber,
Please get out of my head, it is a little disturbing.
I’m an avoider, but really I’m trying to do better. I need to learn to say no AND the other thing that can help is the touch once, then chuck it approach. Just like with mail, touch it, deal with it, be done with it and move on. I just feel a little swamped. Guess I should stop reading my Google Reader and catching up over here.
.-= Tepary´s last post ..Cluck, cluck, cliche =-.
I am a hybrid of a “Thing-Avoider” and a “Thing-Doer.” And I can never really predict from day to day which identity will overtake me.
Sometimes, I just want to get it over with and get whatever it is out of the way. Other times, I would rather do anything BUT the thing in question and spend literally HOURS procrastinating so as not to do the aforementioned task.
I am an excellent procrastinator and should get paid for it.
I am a Thing avoider on some things. I am a Thing doer on others. I hate making phone calls. HATE.
And then I tell myself to suck it up and, like Nike says, Just Do It.
I’ve started doing the touch it and chuck it approach with some things.
I would really like to touch the “Mark all as read” button on my Google reader at the moment. But I think I should go through a few more items (of 404). :sigh:
.-= Nicole´s last post ..Girl Talk Thursday: Valentine’s day =-.
I WAS a thing do-er but I am not great at doing things with children hanging from my pony-tail and so I’ve become a thing put-offer who tends to forget that I’ve out-off things to do! I used to have an awesome memory and even though they’ve ‘proven’ that baby-brain doesn’t exist I’d like a do-over cause I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my memory cells somewhere along the way.
.-= Marilyn´s last post ..What I Learned: Olympic Torch Relay =-.
I am a doer. I love to get things accomplished but I do put off some of the more unsavory things such as writing and responding to lettermail. I hardly ever send birthday cards etc., I’d rather make a phone call. I’m on the very long waiting list in my office for a book called Eat That Frog and it’s about doing the most unsavory thing first and then getting on with the fun stuff! Here’s a link to the book: http://www.briantracy.com/catalog/product.aspx?cid=1&pid=49
Hmm. Depends on the Thing. Depends on my mood, as well. I know perfectly well that I’ll be happier if I do the Thing right away, but I don’t always do it. Ain’t human beings funny that way?
.-= Emily´s last post ..marshmallow world =-.
Um. Yeah. Most of the time that you see me on Twitter is when I *should* be doing homework. Or I *should* be responding to an email. Or I *should* be doing anything online other than being on Twitter. Sometimes I get into “get it done right now” kind of moods, and that’s when I fly through everything that needs to be accomplished. But those moods have been few and far between lately.
.-= TheFeministBreeder´s last post ..Coming to a Television Near You on March 3rd… =-.
Ack, you found me out Amber… sigh. I am a notorious thing avoider. NOTORIOUS. I have started to tackle it but gosh it is so engrained in me it’s one hard thing to shift.
.-= Mel´s last post ..My Alter Ego =-.
When I’m working, I’m a Thing Avoider. I keep a pile neatly on my desk in front of me, maybe it’s to make me look busy. But I tackle my Things every so often, or as needed. Because if I was doing my Things… I wouldn’t be here reading your blog
So thanks for the distractions! LOL
On the flip side, I have learned to be a Thing-do-er at home when it comes to family stuff. But when it comes to say doing my own laundry? I’d rather live out of piles of mixed clean and dirty laundry.
.-= Sara´s last post ..Another LONG week =-.
I wish you could come over and live with my family for a little while, and teach us how to become efficient do-ers. I really appreciate all your insights, sometimes it’sso good to read things clearly spelled out.
.-= Francesca´s last post ..About a snack =-.
Ohhh, I am *such* a Thing avoider. And I’ve been working on it, and I’ve been getting better, but man is it hard.
It’s also why I don’t leave comments on others’ blogs often: I’ll open it up, and then not have time to do it “properly”, and… not ever get to it.
So… here, have a crap comment, which I’m Just Doing rather than Obsessing Over. Thanks.
.-= Arwyn´s last post ..On identity and “who [I] bone” =-.