As urged by All the Time Management Experts Everywhere, including the creative sorts, I decided to undertake a time tracking exercise.* The first week I did this stopped after a day when LG was in a major car accident and we spent a good chunk of the day in the ER and the whole week went haywire.** I tried again, dutifully trying to record my life in 30 minute increments. What did I learn from this? I have yet to do all the tallies--and I did not make it the entire week, just Mon-Fri--but my life looks pretty much the way it feels. Mostly balanced with a touch of overwhelming?
Another realization: Pre-Covid I had campus days and home days....I still do, but the difference is "home days" still involve zoom meetings for work. I need to start finding a way to have one day per week that involves no meetings of any sort.
I do not tend to "waste" time. But I'd been off twitter for the bulk of the summer and it turns out if you hop on twitter for thirty seconds to post something it's hard to get out. Thus confirming my decision to excise twitter from my life except for very strategic work-related things.
I am really good about making progress on Big Tasks. I am also good about doing the routine things that need doing (i.e. keeping up with my class). The smaller tasks that are important but not urgent create a bigger problem. Because even if I parcel them out there are too freaking many of them.
This coming week I think I will narrow the scope of my analysis and keep more concrete records of the messy mishmash that occurs when I get into email to work on admin tasks. And also the home hours that fade into the ether.
Today will involve some cleaning, some cooking, some work-related tasks, and also apparently a trip to the drug store to buy hair dye for Tiny Boy, as promised for a reward for stopping hair picking, so wish me luck on that.
* I am reading Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals which I highly recommend. It clarifies a lot of why time management literature in general makes me cranky, though I am quite drawn to it.
** LG is mostly fine now and will heal. Some fractures and bruises. Not in any pain at this point. Follow up with orthopedic specialist and pediatrician.
Sorry to hear about LG's auto accident; that's scary!
ReplyDeleteI recently read 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam and set out to track my time for a week. On the second day of the week, I got confirmation of a job offer and tendered my resignation at my current job of 7 years, and that threw my week completely off. I stopped tracking, and the past three weeks since my resignation have been anything but "normal," so I have yet to resume.
I would be interested in doing this again, though, so I will likely restart soon. I start the new job on Wednesday, so maybe the first full week of October?
S, congrats on the new job!! If I'm remembering right your work involves billable hours? Time tracking might work better for you, then, for me. I'd need to get really granular to make any significant discoveries.
ReplyDeleteThis new attempt also got derailed before it really started because Tiny Boy is home this week due to class COVID. ARGH.
I'm glad your daughter is mostly ok and will recover. Car accidents are scary!
ReplyDeleteEverybody seems to be reading four thousand weeks, but neither of the libraries I patronize have it. :( My big problem these days is motivation. Reading the amazon reviews, I suspect this one would tell me to stop working and enjoy goofing off in the present, which I'm hearing more than enough from the internet and will make future me unhappy.
No, Burkeman would not tell you to stop working! He would ask you to think about how you want to be spending your time, probably. (It's a lot of Heiddeger....that time isn't a resource but you/life itself). In that regard, it's really the anti-Vanderkam/productivity book.
ReplyDelete