So as you might have noticed, lately I’m having this feeling of cleansing, and letting-go. Of emptiness (the good kind.)
This is the funny thing about keeping a blog. Here I think I’m writing about all of this random stuff, and then when I go back and look I see all these connections, which might as well be written in neon lights and doing tap-dance routines they’re so obvious.
Today it occurred to me that the blissy emptiness came over me right around the same time I started building my sailboat. Actually, before I even realized I wanted to call it a sailboat.
In case you’re not following along with all of my wacky metaphors, the sailboat is my schedule. Building the sailboat is me intentionally deciding how to spend my time, but in a way that’s not overplanned and crazy-stifling.
The constant guilt of Not Doing
It’s hard to give a summary of the giant soup in my brain on go-go-go, but one huge issue for me was that there were so many disparate types of things I wanted to be doing…
Big Stuff
These would be ideas for creative projects that I want to be doing, things that inspire me. They require long un-interrupted (by others, or by my churning guilt-ridden brain) stretches of time, but don’t have set times so they’re easy to put off.
Practice Stuff
Stuff that I want to put into practice over time. Things like dance of shiva, meditation, and long walks with the dog. These I would ideally do daily, or at least on a very regular basis. They do generally require a certain amount of time, but don’t have set times. (While it’s tempting to manufacture set times, if I write “8:00 meditate” on my calendar that just about guarantees the last thing I’ll be doing at 8 is meditating.)
Work Stuff
These are generally tasks that bring in money. They aren’t tied to a set time or an amount of time per se, but they usually have to be completed by a set time. The amount of time these tasks take can vary greatly, since work can be done much more quickly when I am in the right frame of mind.
Appointments
Sometimes I have to be at a certain place at a certain time because I have planned to meet someone. In my life right now these are phone appointments, pilates, and social events.
Errands
These tend to be tied to a certain place but not necessarily a certain time (though some errands are appointments too, these are by no means definitive categories). The amount of time can also vary greatly depending on when I do them. If I go to the grocery store at 11am on a weekday it can take half the time (not to mention irritation) of going at 5pm.
Maintenance
These are things I need to keep on top of, that also don’t need to happen at a certain time but I would like for them to happen at regular intervals. Stuff like opening my mail or doing laundry. In this category I also include making phone calls to friends and family members. These tasks also vary greatly in the amount of time they take. Although they’re easy to put off, they are much faster and smoother when done on a regular basis.
My previous “method”
Okay, it wasn’t so much a method as paper-shuffling with a side of ongoing, persistent guilt.
My calendar would keep track of appointments, but whenever I would over-plan and add practice or maintenance or big stuff onto my calendar I would rebel against it.
My to-do list was just a shapeless blob and felt so weighty, even when I tried to categorize it. It was always like here are all these things I should be doing nownownow. But without carving out time to do them a lot of stuff never got done, or only got done when it became an emergency (which creative projects never do but paying the cell phone bill sure does.)
And don’t even get me started on quality of life type stuff I wanted to be able to enjoy, like spending time with my husband, and other non-guiltified Not Doing.
I know there are a lot of systems out there that address these shortcomings.
But since my eyes glaze over whenever someone starts to talk about details I never got into the swing of any existing time-management-systems. I literally can’t get through reading about them.
Retro-fitting someone else’s solution onto my life also didn’t work for me because I’m too much of a rebel against structure.
So in order to even start to be able to pay attention to this type of detail, I had to make the process into a giant life adventure. Like building a sailboat.
Anyway, I have a sailboat now. And it’s creating all of this space and ease for me. So I’m going to write a little bit about how I built it in my next post or two.
If you’re building your own <insert metaphor here>, I’d love to hear how it’s going.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Very cool. I’m looking forward to hearing about how you went about (or maybe, are still going about) builing your sailboat in you next post!
Michelle´s last blog ..How to Write an Introduction that Grabs your Right People
I desperately need such a sailboat for all the various and sundry things I’m trying to do, in roughly the same categories — and without the guilt of non-doing, as you say. Looking forward to hearing your process!
Yes! Another person waiting to hear about your sailboat building techniques
Finding routines and rhythms that work for me has been a slow and ongoing process.
Rebecca Leigh´s last blog ..Benefits, reality distortion fields, and talking so your right people can hear you
You remind me of me – are you ADD?
In any event, I have found that I have to just have an order to things like a pattern and then if I just get used to that pattern, it clears my mind and so I am no longer trying to remember what I have to, want to, need to, had bloody better DO. I usually have to make a list initially but then the habit forms over about three weeks and I take it from there. Once I clear my mind from all the urging and nagging that usually goes on in there, I get a whole lot more creative and constructive with work play which makes me more effective with both of them which again creates more time and so I am going. It took me a while and a massive dose of rebellion against structure to find my own style but now that I have it, I kinda like my life and the funnly little things I tell myself in place of the anxiety that used to be happening between me and I.
Hmm, it seems I read this post/found this blog at the perfect time. I’m so completely trying to fit the right metaphor into my life. So far I’ve got a cottage and a dress [and a crazy bandana to remind me not to be too serious] and I’m now stuck [and would love suggestions - I'm a pretty new Shivanaut and have been focusing on it during sessions of Shiva].
It’s great to read blogs that sound like a human being is talking; I’m really enjoying the posts I’ve read so far.
Thanks for sharing this and I look forward to reading more.
~Rose.
Rose´s last blog ..Decisions
I know what you mean by not wanting to be pinned down by schedule. Absolutely hate it myself, but also know that I need a little structure. My method, which I call the slip method, allows me to rearrange things with great ease, maybe too much ease at times. I write each task on a little slip of paper and arrange the slips in a slip list holder or tickler which I made specially for the slips. If I change my mind about something, or circumstances change, I just move the slip to a new location. I can also rearrange the sequence without having to re-write my to do list.
As I am writing this after your post following this one, I would also like to say that I like your way of blocking your tasks with a loose schedule. I might try combining it with the slip method. It would be flexible and have some structure. Thanks for posting your idea. Always love to see how people solve the eternal organising problem.
judyofthewoods´s last blog ..New website for small businesses