Lately I have been fretting about time. There is so much to do and not enough time to do it all. Or lamenting the fact that when I am stressed, I begin procrastinating and time-wasting. I become overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done and instead of making a list or prioritizing, I end up doing a lot of nothing.
Yesterday I looked at a my friend Naomi's blog. She is a writer and she posted about Timely Intentions versus time management. The idea is that time management is a myth. We all have the same amount of time and what we do with it is up to us. We make choices about what we are going to do with our time, and that in order to maximize our time, we should be intentional about how we spend it. Lately I have not been intentional. I have been more reactionary.
I was speaking with another law student this morning about how when I am stressed I tend to procrastinate instead of doing the things I am supposed to do. I did the same thing years ago and I still do it now. I commented to her that I wonder when I will ever grow out of it, and she said it is not about maturity. It is about being aware of what we do and choosing not to do it. From there I made the leap that it is not just about not doing it, because I have tried that and then fall back into the same bad habits, but rather to replace it with something better.
So, I am going to replace my procrastinating with lists. I am a list person. At work my “list” is the way I organize the files on my desk. I have them in an order so I can take the next thing and work on it, and can see what I have left to do at any given time. Some of my co-workers have wondered how I can work at my desk, seeing as it is often piled with files. But those piles are my lists. Being in school, I don’t have a desk to work at all the time, so I will have to resort to a traditional list. I have my diary for dates, so I will begin using that. I figure then I will also have something concrete to realize that I am getting work accomplished.
If lists don’t work, I will have to come up with something else to fill my stress gap. I am open to ideas.
3 comments:
I'm glad my post could help! I used to believe in time management. Now I believe in intention, as you can tell. How are you lists working for you?
Actually, the lists haven't made it onto paper yet. Unfortunately, this means I have spent the last few days off doing nothing of substance. Although I spent it with my family, so it wasn't wasted. Just not as productive as I wanted.
Baby steps. And workable, manageable goals.
You've put your intention out there. Now I get to bug you until you make your next step toward realizing your intention. :)
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