I often see comments here and in other places I am about how much I get done. Like most things you see online (or even in the real world) your view is, of course, skewed. You see what I do get done, but you don’t see what I don’t get done. You don’t see the millions of little choices I am making or sacrifices to make sure I carve the time to do the things I want to do. I have written about this before, but I don’t think we can ever be reminded enough. My life is far from perfect. I yell at my kids. I fight with my husband. I fail. I get rejected. I cry. I worry. I hover. I annoy. etc etc. I’m human after all. I think I am pretty good about being honest (and not too whiny) here but feel free to tell me if I am not. Not even for a moment would I want you to think I’m anything other than a flawed person struggling and trying to do her best each day.
I am also very lucky in that I have a patient husband who forgives me regularly and with whom I’ve already shared 17 years of my life. So he’s patient and kind with me. So are my kids. They play a lot on their own. They listen to my requests. They are easy going and kind. They forgive me when I mess up. They also don’t have a lot of activities or playdates so I am not carting them around all day. I have a full time job so I work a lot and while my job is flexible and wonderful, it supports our family and I prioritize it over activities and playdates during the week. I don’t cook. I don’t clean. I tidy up, run dishwasher and laundry etc but those do not take the same amount of time of course. I have no idea where my iron is and I haven’t vacuumed once since we moved here two years ago. I have a wonderful cleaning lady who comes every other week and I am deeply grateful for her and the time that grants me. I rarely talk on the phone and rarely do one thing at a time.
So all this is to say that I do a lot and I don’t do a lot of other things. It’s all about prioritizing. Having said that, I’ve recently had some major revelations about what helps me get things done. I’ve also realized getting things done is a really really big part of me. Something that makes me happy. Some people get stressed with deadlines and long todo lists. I am the opposite. I thrive on deadlines and get frustrated when I don’t have a lot to do. So I have found ways that help me get things done and I wanted to share with you in case any of you are like me. Here’s some of what works for me (these are not in order):
Schedule I am a strong believer of schedules. That’s why I have one here on the blog. I schedule my posts for specific days. It keeps me honest and it helps me schedule my tasks. I have daily, weekly and monthly schedules for things. For example, I weigh myself every Wednesday. Or I take family photos right after I exercise each weekend day etc. I find that scheduling a task makes it more real. It’s like a meeting. If it’s on my calendar, I show up and do it.
Organize Similarly, I make lists and organize myself daily. For the last two weeks, I’ve been writing a personal and a work todo list every night before I go to bed. This way, before I wake up and face that day’s disasters, I already know what needs to get done and I can get up and get one thing done before I check my mail or do anything else. During the day, I check off items and anything that didn’t get done moves to the next day’s list. (if it still needs to get done. sometimes they are moot by then.) I write my lists by hand but that’s cause i like to. I used to do them on the computer. I like the feeling of pen.
Do Anyway I wrote about this in the newsletter. I learned not to wait for inspiration to strike. If I scheduled something or if it’s on my list. I do it. I don’t wait to feel like it. I just sit and do it. Almost always a few minutes into it, I feel like doing it. So now, I just do it. No matter what.
Figure out the Frog I figure out the one thing that has to get done. If I did only one single thing on each list, which would it be? And then I do that first. For personal, it’s always exercise. If my exercise is done for the day and I dropped the ball on everything else, it was still a great day. The other thing about eating the frog first is that it puts you on a roll. It gives you a push and an adrenaline. So then you’re pumped and ready to get more done. So when I make my lists, I always identify the frog and underline it.
Choose Wisely Time is a limited asset. Not everything is going to get done. So I prioritize my life according to my personal goals. I don’t cook because I don’t like doing it and I don’t want to spend my precious time on it. I feel like as long as I give my family a nutritious meal, it doesn’t matter if I cooked it. I use that time to do art, to read to my son, etc. It’s personal to me. Some people love to cook. It calms them, it’s bonding time, etc. That’s great. I don’t judge at all. I just think you should spend your time on your own choices. Not what you think you should do or what you feel guilty about etc. We all have things we have to do but we also get a lot more choice time each day than we’d like to admit. Choose wisely.
Discipline This is one of my strongest assets. I am very disciplined. Sometimes I want to read longer but I remind myself that it’s time to move on to something else on my list. It feels hard to tear away from the book, TV, game, whatever but everything on my list is something I cherish so once I start the next thing I am always happy. I just need to keep myself disciplined. I also work before I play. So I exercise first thing. Then I can relax and have my coffee. I read to my son before I read for myself. Etc. I try to stay very disciplined and focused.
Hold Yourself Liable And probably the most important one is that I hold myself liable. I value my tasks and make sure I do them. I look at my scrapping, reading, exercising, etc the way I look at my tasks at work. I would work hard not to disappoint my boss and I work hard not to disappoint myself. I set my goals and then try to have high integrity, even if just to myself. No one will care if I stopped doing my art journal. But I will and I value that as much as I would if it were someone else. If a task is becoming cumbersome, I revisit that priority and reassess. I might change it. I might even scrap it. But it’s always a conscious decision.
And remember, I fail often. These are just things I try to do. When I succeed, they are what make me succeed so I wanted to share. I hope this was helpful in some way.
WOW, Karen, You are so wise; have you photo-shopped your picture? You must certainly be a wizzened old lady to have such wisdom! (if I knew how to add the smile image, it would go here). I love the frog concept; it’s not one that I have heard before, but is one that I will borrow and use as my own. As always, thanks for sharing so much of yourself; you are an inspiration to me.
I’ve been a bad, bad girl and want to apologise for not commenting on your blog for so long.(though I still pop in to visit often) But after reading your wonderful inspiring article I just had to thank you for putting me back on track. I have been slacking, with so much I want to get done and losing myself in a good book for too long, I now feel the need to get a notebook and do a daily list too. I will let you know how I get on.
Thanks Karen for sharing with us. I love this and will use it to keep me on track with everything I need to do. I fell off the challenge yesterday(too busy) but am looking forward to it today.
Wow! I admire your discipline. I love the idea of the frog. I’m going to impliment it today. I like what you said about time being a limited asset. I think we really take time for granted. I know I do. so….you have inspired me to begin to make better use of my time. Thanks.
so true. we all have faults, but who wants to be reminded of them. we know they’re there, but they can stay in the background. think about the good things and move on from there. i have so many flaws, but my husband still comes home at night or in the morning (shift work). glad he does too. life is an adventure, and if we can laugh along the way when the milk gets spilled, and the mud flies. hallelujah. maybe sing too, who cares if you’re not good at it. cleaning my stamp room today and your tips might help me get more done. i’ll get back to work now. thanks.
wowow you are just like me when it comes to cooking! hahaha i dont like cooking much but my sister love it so i pretend to like it sometimes. ahaha 😛 I love how discipline you are and i like your schedules! Im trying to establish routine now. weeee im not very good at it but sometimes when you always read here in your blog(daily that is) it kind of rub off on you and i like that.
I am with you on this one. Have been having a lot of the same thoughts myself of late. Thanks for being so open and honest
Nice to know you don’t do it all!
Thanks for this post! I really needed this today!
You always make me smile. What an inspiring post to get me going this Friday morning. And I do love Fridays and today is jean day at work and then the weekend. Oh, how I love weekends! Enjoys yours with your family. It comes through so clear how much you love them (and they right back!) I just finished reading your Week 1 teaching on embracing perfection. Hit the nail right on the head!! Thank you.
So right about now I’ll be embracing my “imperfection” 🙂
Your insight and honesty is inspiring. I blame my “no time to do…” on having a full time job that I do not enjoy at all anymore, but really if I were to prioritize, schedule & organize there would be much more time. This article and ones like it are why I don’t consider spending too much time on the computer as a time waster.
Thank you.
I enjoy so much reading your blog and what all you do. I am not a detailed, list making, scheduling person and I know it would help me so much to do those things. So I will continue to read you blog for this inspiration. Everything you do is so interesting.
I have been thinking about this post all day. You are so right on so many points. I have a few frogs to eat myself and although I KNOW in my heart and in my head I should just do them, I choose to let them dog me. That’s right I CHOOSE. I don’t know why but I am going to try to adopt a slightly different attitude, especially if the frog is something that can be taken care of pretty quickly. I know sometimes I don’t eat the frog because I need to carve out those hours for studio time and I’m OK when that happens. I’m not OK when I seem to dawdle and putter but still don’t eat the frog. Congratulations on the continued exercising, you must feel so good inside and out, to be doing this and keeping at it. Wearing clothes that make you feel good – that is great reward. Interesting what you said about how your kids don’t do many activities or “play dates”. I will agree that my own one child’s activities cut into my personal time. We have already talked about this lately and I think things will be changing very soon. Thanks for great and stimulating conversation, as ever!
thank you for the reminder that we are all human, and for sharing your method for getting things done. I have proved to myself that I can get things done for the last five weeks, by completing layout-a-day in february, and hoping on the treadmill every day for the last week, but I’m still having moments of inability-to-move-due-to-overwhelm, and this post has given me some food for thought about how I may address that.
Thank you for this post, it was truly inspiring. I have wondered how you do so much and are so creative. This list really helps and explains it well. Way to go on being so good about getting things done. I like how honest you are, especially the cooking. Does that mean you eat out a lot or maybe your husband does the cooking. Food is a big issue in our house, I hate shopping for food and dislike cooking because all three kids have different tastes and wants and it’s a big struggle in our house. For me and my hubby we would be fine but 3 hungry kids to feed is not fun anymore. We don’t do to many playdates here either but we are a sports family so lots of soccer and basketball but that’s it, only one sport allowed at one time. I’m going to use these ideas of yours to help make my day run smoother and get some things done to and not put them off like I do. Thanks so much for sharing this Karen.
Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts together on this subject. It’s so helpful. This is an area that I believe everyone struggles with every day. How do we balance the must-do and the want-to-do tasks/activities in our lives? And how do we manage the guilt/worry over what we don’t accomplish? I am like you in my love of lists and scheduling things that are important to me, but I don’t think I have the discipline and focus down as well as you…yet. Thank you for the honest look at your style as well as the inspiration.