Dear Interwebs,
It’s been a month since my last posting and I realized I don’t want too much time to go by without a post because then you might come to this site and think I’m inactive or dead, when the reality is I’ve just been busy and while I get A LOT done… I can’t do everything! So, I decided that periodically, I’ll do a true “web log” aka journal post, just for the sake of keeping the blog fresh.
I have a lot of article blogs in the works or half done. I just need to find the time to finish them. Except for one… I thought I had a clever idea, and then I saw nearly the exact same thing somewhere else. It had to do with all the times that ST:TOS showed up in ST:TNG.
Speaking of Trek… no spoilers here… but I’m going to say I was happy with how Picard S2 ended and am happy with how Strange New Worlds began. SNW felt very much like they were trying to recreate the feel of TOS, but for the modern era, and I appreciate that. I’m calling it: Modern TOS.
Why so busy lately? Well, my 2nd book (Robots, Robots Everywhere! Book 2 in The Robot Galaxy Series) launched this past Tuesday. My writing-related time has been consumed with all things marketing for that and for planning my table for an upcoming book fair in DC. (Imaginarium Book Fair on May 21st… come on out if you’re local!) I made bookmarks, some posters, etc. I use and love Canva for that stuff.
Time. I get asked about this a lot in and out of my day job. “How do you have time for this?” “Do you have a clone?” My official answer to the “clone question” is no. But I do have some well-honed time management strategies that I’ve employed for years and that’s how I’m able to keep a demanding full-time job, kids, and write books/blogs on the side, and throw in a podcast there, too!
I’m always happy to pass on the strategy, but note that it took a while to get used to it. This wasn’t some magic that improved my life overnight… but close to it. I always have to tell the story of when/where this started for me…
The year was 2003… I had left the aerospace industry and my career to open a retail paint-your-own-pottery store. And I was DROWNING in my to-do list like never before and felt like I couldn’t get anything done. Dixie Sanner to the rescue! She owns (owned?) a business called Sanner Organizing Solutions, was a member of our local chamber of commerce like me, specialized in time management, and was offering a deal to fellow chamber members. I took her up on it and have claimed ever since it was the best money I ever spent on myself for professional development.
We met over a few weeks and she helped me put a strategy in place to organize my time and tasks. I still use a version of this today, although since it’s second nature after almost 20 years, I don’t do it as meticulously as I once did.
The method boils down simply to this:
- Write down ALL your tasks.
- Assign priorities to all your tasks (1-5 or A-D… whichever works for you. I do A-D, where “D” are things that can be delegated.) as of right now thinking about what can be accomplished in the next week or so.
- The go back and re-assign…. since all the ones you said were “A” or “highest priority” can’t be…. since they all can’t be done in the next week or so. Maybe half of what you wrote were “A” are really “B” for the moment.
- For the As, assign a time to them: how long will it take to complete?
- Double that time (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP).
- Then go to your calendar and schedule them on your calendar — but in a 8 hr workday, you’re only allowed to assign 6hrs worth of tasks. This is to account for all the unknowns, disruptions, etc.
- Then actually give the “D” tasks to someone.
- Repeat weekly. (A good idea is at the end of the week, or start of the week, schedule 30min on your calendar to do this for the next week.)
Like I said, I still do a version of this. The key for me is that calendar part. I live/die by my calendar at home and at work. My day job involves a TON of meetings, so I regularly schedule blocks of time where I say “this is where I’m doing this work” to make sure I can get it done.
Am I perfect? No. But I’m able to get enough done in life that so many people think I have a clone… or a dozen.
Until next time…
-Adeena