Time management isn’t easy

 

I want to talk to you about time management. I love this topic, as I am good at managing my time. I’m a very busy person, but I generally manage to fit everything I need to do into a day and still have time for myself (most days). But when I sat down to write this blog post, I didn’t really know how to explain how I manage my time. I know not everyone is as good at it as I am, but why is that?

Time management is certainly something that you can learn, but I do think that it’s easier for some people than for others. Mental health plays a large role in it as well. Whenever my mental health isn’t great, I struggle much more to get tasks done. I can waste hours online just because I am avoiding whatever it is that really needs doing.

Likewise, my husband is terrible at time management. It’s not that he doesn’t want to be productive, or that he’s lazy. It’s just that he has a different idea of time. He’s bad at estimating how much time a task will take, or how fast time will pass. It’s just the way his brain is wired.

The main way I keep myself organised is through a bullet journal. Once upon a time, I was able to keep all my appointments and to-do lists in my head, but since I’m getting a bit older, my brain just doesn’t remember that much. To ensure that I don’t forget anything, I sit down at the beginning of each week and plan out the next week. I write down my appointments and my list of things to do. I like knowing what I need/want to accomplish in a week, but I’m not rigid about it. Things can change and I need to be flexible.

This year, I have also started to plan my writing projects according to days. So, for example, Monday is blog day, Tuesday and Wednesday are short story days and Thursday and Friday are novel-writing days. The weekend is for catching up on anything I may have missed or that I didn’t get time to finish properly.

Each day when I wake up I take stock of what I have to do that day. I prioritise my tasks based on how urgent they are. Then I think about when I can do each task. Writing can be done while I commute and on my lunch break. Laundry has to be done in the evening when I get home from work, so I have to make sure I remember to put it on as soon as I get home. I review any purchases that need to be done and determine whether they can be done online or in person. If in person, I schedule time in for me to go to the shop. Anything I can delegate to my husband, I will.

This taking-stock of what has to be done each day is not something I sit down and do. It happens in the background: while I am cooking my oldest son’s hot lunch in the morning, while I walk the dog, or while I take a shower. Before I have even started my day properly I already know what I have to accomplish that day. I generally check my to-do list in my bullet journal as well before I go to work, just to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything.

I tend to schedule downtime for myself after 9 pm. That’s when the kids go to bed and after that, I either read, watch a show or relax in other ways. If I am in the zone with my writing, I sometimes write a bit longer after 9, but I don’t like doing that, as I need some time for myself before going to bed. If I am very tired after coming home from work and not all my tasks are done, I review what still needs to be done and only do the urgent tasks. The rest can wait until another day.

I am very efficient with my time. Maybe that is why time management comes so easy to me. I must admit, I didn’t realise until fairly recently that not everyone is that good at time management, and I feel bad for not always being patient with my husband for not being as productive as me in a day. But it’s okay that he does things the way he does. We are all different, which makes life so interesting.

To read others’ thoughts on the Wicked Wednesday prompt, or to read other blog posts for January Jumpstart, click on the badges below.

 

The Insatiable Jane Travers

Would you choose a stable marriage over a lifetime of excitement? What if you could have it both?

It’s the roaring twenties.

Naive virgin Jane Travers arrives at her friend’s country home hoping to spend a summer away from her strict aunt and uncle in New York. She’s been promised wild parties and endless excitement, but she soon finds herself in over her head. With the help of the sexy singer Lillian Smith, and her old flame Sidney Fitzroy, Jane starts to explore her sexuality, blossoming from an innocent virgin to an insatiable vixen.

With Sidney and Lillian both satisfying her deepest desires, Jane cannot imagine ever going back to her aunt and uncle’s restrictive household. But without an income of her own, her only escape is marriage. Sidney can offer her a stable life as a married woman, but with Lillian, she’d have a lifetime of excitement.

How can she choose when her heart—and body—belongs to both of them?