I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not
do, but what I hate I do.
(Romans 7:15)
So sayeth Paul, but you don't have to be a saint to know where he's coming from. I come home from work with all sorts of good intentions: I'll catch up on my correspondence (which only has a six-month head start), learn to make a pie crust, organize my photos, reupholster the cushions, make some art, all of which are activities that I actually enjoy once I start doing them. But I'm tired, and then Mariska Hargitay sings her siren song, and there goes another evening....
So I need tricks and strategies to help me do the things I actually want to do instead of the things I do by default. My current techniques, though, seem straight out of Elsabeth Kubler-Ross: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression--so is it any wonder that they don't seem to work very well as motivators?
Cure grads and others, what works for you to get yourself active at home?
P.S. Just in time for the end of Art Month, my partner Erica Harris is showing new work at Object Image Gallery in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Come on by for the opening reception on Saturday, January 27th from 4-7 pm. We're making cookies in the shape of airplanes.
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mama makes a list, putting some easily checked off things at the top (top if the list being the do it first spot), then feeling the accomplishment of having done something easy, knocks off another one, less easily done. and so on.
also, mama doesn't beat herself up for tasks not completed.
I struggle with this as well - I think similar to what mama says, is to think of baby steps. Instead of thinking you'll do five things that night, just do one thing. Or break up the activity into smaller chunks, over a few days if possible (like cleaning the bathroom - just aim to clean the toilet one night, sink the next, etc.) Also, I find that if I don't have a glass (or 3) of wine with dinner, I'm much more motivated. :>
I sometimes find that if I just start to wander around the house I will start to do a tiny thing that leads to another tiny thing and then I might drift off to another activity in another room, and so on. I try to make ADD work for me. Sometimes I set a time frame. For example, I will go grocery shopping at 3pm today (it's Sunday)and be back before the sun sets.
There's always the sense of muted panic that each small task is overwhelming, whereas the pleasurable ones like cruising around cyberspace or napping in the sunny spot on the couch are so alluring.
Erica's work looks terrific. I used to live around the corner from Object Image Gallery. Glad to see they are still in business. Looks like they are showing some great stuff.
I found some great stuff from "Time Management from the Inside Out" by Julie Morgenstern.
If you are too tired to do what you want, then you may be wasting time. For example, I have a friend who loathes cleaning up dishes, but also hates the bacterial offspring of neglected plates. He had resolved after the New Year to clean them every night. Why waste the time washing them nightly when they can go from the dinner table to the dishwasher? Let the dishwasher rinse and hold them until enough for a load accumulates! This may only save 10 minutes, not much time, but psychologically he has side stepped a dreadful chore and knows that he now has ten more minutes to do something he really loves... like booster shots of motivation.
Is what keeps you busy really what you want to be doing? If you can identify something that takes a lot of your time but doesn't have a lot of reward, then delete, diminish, delegate, or delay that thing.
The book has so much more to offer, and is written much more elegantly. I like that it is not a formulaic solution. Like AT, it requires reflection and self-knowldege. Instead of focusing on the skill of time management the book proposes that one ought to arrange one's life so that what you do with your time is important to you, which will be your motivation for better time management.
Specifically, Chapter 2 is a great resource, it lists common reasons we can't accomplish what we want.
Hope this is helpful. Check it out at the library I think you'll like it.
Getting Things Done by David Allen.
By far the best system I've ever come across for organizing your time and your entire life.
Hi there,
i plan only one task per vening during the week, and one or two for the weekend. If i overload myself with a list of to-dos, i'm discouraged. So i proceed one step at the time, slowly but progressing !
Ksenia's got it. David Allen's Getting Things Done [davidco.com] has taken on a whole brilliant life of its own. Check it out.
If nothing else, you'll enjoy the time you waste reading about it.
David Allen/ Getting Things Done is the best!
I took a workshop of his a few years ago after reading the book. There were Harvard Business School staff there taking it for a second time.
However, you certainly don't need the workshop to benefit from his practical suggestions.
Sometimes it is just getting over the hump- try setting a timer for ten minutes and "allow" yourself to quit after ten minutes if you want. Usually, esp if it is something you actually do like, you'll be engrossed by then and want to continue!
Or if not, hey, you got ten minutes of it done. Ten minutes seems like "nothing", but boy a lot can get done in ten minutes!
Facing the same dilemma I, about three years ago, got rid of my TV. I'm still tired at night, but instead of flaking out in front of "SVU" (or "24" or "The West Wing" or "American Idol" or whatever was on...) I read books and magazines, hang out with friends, surf the web, balance my budget, and do other non-creative "monkey brain" work. And there are added benefits -- I've been getting at least 8 hours of sleep every night and I get to feel very, very virtuous.