I got up at 5am this morning to get a few bookkeeping things done before leaving for the day. Bryan and I chatted while I worked, I sipped my coffee, and I was fully in a good mood by the time Ruthie woke up at 7am. And now as I get ready to leave, not only are my bookkeeping tasks done, but the kitchen is clean, the dishwasher is running, and meat is thawing for dinner tonight.
This is the most productive I’ve been in weeks, accomplishing more tasks in two hours than I have any other day. I usually try to get these things done while Thomas naps in the afternoon, but by then I’ve completely lost focus. I’m tired, my brain is fried, and I have too many thoughts milling about in my head to focus on spreadsheets.
I can see why some people go into the office early to get things done before anyone else arrives – the mind is fresh, there’s less chatter to distract, and there’s just something about the dark quiet of the early morning that allows for hunkering down.
I’ve been thinking through my productivity level lately, dissatisfied with what I’m able to accomplish. Ruthie’s school schedule has provided the good bones I need for a schedule, but I still feel lost and distracted during certain times of the day.
I think it’s time to iterate.
The gals who run the daycare at my gym work a split shift, first in the morning, and then in the evening. This got me thinking of trying the same thing – that maybe on the days I have computer tasks to accomplish, I wake up at an insane hour that only God and Bryan love. Errands and laundry and household projects can be done later in the morning, and planning and organizing can be done later in the evening when I get my second wind.
This leaves the afternoon lull for writing, or reading, or napping, or some other activity that refreshes me for the rest of the day. Because really, I need to be on my game when Ruthie comes home. She’s a chatterbox and full of energy and needs to interact with me. If I push myself through the entire day without taking a break to recharge my Introvert Battery, the last thing I want to do at 3:30 is see my own children.
How sad is that?
Also, I think this embraces and accommodates What Is instead of trying to change myself to fit into a particular box, only to continually feel like a failure – referring again to this article about working with known behavior rather than trying to change it.
Am I the only person who obsesses about Getting Things Done? Am I the only one who struggles with productivity? I feel like I teeter constantly on the fence between total obsession and compete laziness, usually falling to one side or the other, but rarely walking the middle line successfully.
I hope this new plan allows for greater productivity while giving me opportunities to rest and recharge without guilt.
I so totally get this. For me, it is after dinner. That is when my 11 year old wants to finally let down her preteen guard and tell me about her day, her thoughts, her goals….at a lightening fast speed. Usually you could set your watch to my “done” time….8:45. I just can’t take another minute of my own, amazing, delightful, charming, loving rug rats who just. won’t. SHUT. UP. đŸ™‚
We think alike. I am always list making and obsessing about getting things done, and measuring things by how well I stuck to my schedule or list. How much did I get done? Was I too lazy today? How many things can I tick off the list? This is both my greatest comfort and my worst enemy. I don’t know how to mesh with this trait. Sometimes I think it’s a superpower–go super list making ability to organize! But other times I feel it as a prison. I often struggle with how to feel about it, and wwjd. I do find this is also a huge tendency of a certain meyers/briggs label we know and love. So I guess I’ll try to embrace it. But in the race of womanhood, sometimes I feel at a huge disadvantage to those who seems to have no struggle or sense of this. So, I guess I’m sitting down to write a pros/cons list. We’ll see how it turns out. Dear Diary.
YES. I feel like I all my time writing lists, and evaluating how much I didn’t get done, and wishing I had more time . . . time management is hard for me. I fell like I should keep my kids and myself on a tight schedule but that never actually seems to happen. When I can do it, a couple hours in the morning before everyone wakes up make the whole day better.
YES. I feel like I all my time writing lists, and evaluating how much I didn’t get done, and wishing I had more time . . . time management is hard for me. I fell like I should keep my kids and myself on a tight schedule but that never actually seems to happen. When I can do it, a couple hours in the morning before everyone wakes up make the whole day better.
Oh thank God I’m not alone in the productivity vs. laziness department. Not that I’m glad you have to go through it, too, but it is nice to know that I’m not just a superfreak. In my mind, I’m always secretly comparing myself to what I’m sure other women are getting done in the course of a day. Surely everyone keeps a better house, spends more time working/creating, and cooks a nicer dinner than I do. Surely! Then again, maybe not.
I am happy to always see a spot here for me and then I feel sad when I realize I do not check in here often enough. Since we are one half a continent away from each other, this is definitely a better way to keep in touch and keeping up with my grandchildren than trying to call you when the time is already too busy for you OR the kids. Today was busy as I worked (with20 other gals) in the church gardens from 10-2 on our “end of the year” clean-up day – then I came home to do the same with my own pots and get them ready for some pumpkins and colored leaves and then comes Chrsitmas with spruce tops, red berries, dried hydrangas and decorative dried weeds!! Now I am washing windows inside because my neighbor came and washed them all on the outside – he is a great neighbor! Love ya! MOM