Thursday, July 5, 2012

My Day of Freedom

I did get my day of freedom yesterday.  I didn’t go anywhere.  I didn’t even talk to or see anyone other than my husband.  I didn’t go on Facebook, and I completely ignored the phone.  It was wonderful.  I may have to do it more often.  I was able to get quite a bit accomplished too; not as much as I would have liked, but definitely enough to call it a good day.

I cleaned out and organized the refrigerator.  This always makes me happy and makes me feel like a success in the kitchen, so that was excellent.  

I caught up most of the laundry, including putting it away (that’s always the really hard part for me for some reason), and some of the ironing.  I am beginning to think that the cats pull clean clothes from the closets and dressers and toss them in the hamper while we’re gone.  I think it’s possible; our cats can behave very badly sometimes, and we seem to generate an exorbitant amount of laundry for just two people.  

I submitted a poem to an online publication.  I had been meaning to do this for about two months, but between procrastination and a fear of rejection I just hadn’t gotten around to it.  It’s submitted now.  It will be about three months before I hear anything back from them, so now that it’s done I’m trying not to think much about it.  Yes, I am aware of the fact that if I’d submitted it when I first decided to I’d only have about another month to wait before hearing from them.  Live and learn.

Continuing on the writing front, I organized my partially written posts into folders within my folder on the desk top, and named them appropriately.  I will be happier because I can find things now, and my husband will be happier because they’re organized and not all over the desktop.  (He has this theory that you shouldn’t save everything to the desktop and that that’s what folders are for.)  I also worked on a few posts for later on, though not quite as many as I had hoped.  

I also scrubbed the kitchen floor; the on your hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water kind of scrubbing, instead of using a mop or Swiffer.  I haven’t done this in a while, and let me just say that almost every inch of my body is screaming “WHY???  WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” today.  But the floor looks really, really good.  

The floor scrubbing was good too because, being a mindless activity that kept my hands busy, it gave me time to think about some things.  As I mentioned Tuesday, I’ve been edgy and snappish lately, so I spent the time trying to figure out some solutions.  I concluded that at least part of the trouble is that I’ve lapsed into a very disorganized state.  I am happiest when I know what I’m making for dinner every (or at least most) night for the week, when my work clothes are laid out the night before, and when things are just generally well-organized and planned.  This hasn’t been happening lately.  I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect it’s due to a combination of poor time management and a general lack of organization.

I found some great articles on organization with some tips and ideas that I plan to try, and I’m working on a plan for getting some things organized.  I’ll probably be writing more about that later.  

The time management part is harder.  I seem to have a pattern of saying yes to everything I’m asked to do or participate in, getting burned out that way, and then saying no to everything.  I’m still working on a solution for this one.  Most of the things I commit to seem important at the time, so I’m having a hard time figuring out what to say no to.  How do you prioritize?  Do you have a daily/weekly/monthly limit for things you’ll commit to?  Do you have any suggestions at all for better time management?

I also came to the realization that I spend (okay, waste) a lot of time every week on Facebook and talking on the phone.  I realize that not all phone conversations are a waste of time, and there are definitely people that I need and want to talk to.  I need to stop answering my phone any and every time it rings and staying on the phone until the other person needs to go.  I plan to start utilizing voicemail and prioritizing whether or not a call needs to be returned immediately, based on the voicemail and what I’m currently trying to accomplish.  And I think I’m going to start setting serious limits for my time on Facebook.  I’m also considering whittling down my friends list.  Have any of you tried this, or had success in limiting phone and Facbook time?

I hope you all had a safe, wonderful, and happy Fourth of July.

17 comments:

  1. Look at you organizing and prioritizing! Good for you. I am a bit OCD so I cannot properly operate if things aren't in order or some semblance of order. What's funny is that I teach a freshman orientation class at the college where I teach and my students say that what I'm best at is helping with time management. Basically, think about what your short and long-term goals are. What do you hope to gain from Fb time, time with friends, time home alone, etc. What feeling/productivity do you want to see from yourself at the end of the week/month/year? Then set a schedule. It doesn't have to be huge, just saying that each day you will spend 30 minutes cleaning (maybe one room a day) or 1 hour reading or no more than 30 minutes on Fb or the phone is a good way to start. Track your progress, especially at first, to see how you are really spending your time. Many of my students are shocked at how much time they spend doing things they'll never remember (Fb!). Talk to friends you need to spend time with or who you need to bond with. Make plans that benefit both you and the other person. But remember to schedule time for YOU too. All of this life is about you and if you aren't happy then you aren't getting to live to your fullest.

    Sorry for the rant. I just love organization and time management. You can tell me to go to hell now. ;-)

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    1. No way am I telling you to go to hell! What you said makes a lot of sense. I love the idea of tracking time spent on various activities. I don't know why I never thought of that, it just makes so much sense. I think the idea too of figuring out what I hope to accomplish or feel out of so many activities. I think your response is pure brilliance. Now let's just see how much of it I can put into practice.

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    2. Well! I'm glad you like it since I spend a ton of time putting lesson plans together on teaching this stuff every semester. I do think there is a big correlation between figuring out short and long-term goals and time management since what we want out of something determines how we spend or time - or at least it should. Procrastination is the problem with that. Google has a good online calendar that I have my students use to track their progress through the semester and after using it for a while they really seem to like seeing how they actually (honestly!) spend their time. Good luck!

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  2. Good for you. I could really do with a jolt of prioritizing over here.

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  3. I actually love not being able to access FB when I travel to either my Mom's or In-laws. Neither have internet, so it's a forced break, but it always feels good. However when I am home I am addicted to it and waste most of my time playing the games. It's a mindless way for me to relax though, so in some ways I think it's good for me, I just have to be careful that it doesn't comsume all of my time.

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    1. Sometimes a forced break is a good thing. It's hard to find the balance between using something to relax and letting it consume all of your time. I'm still working on the balance part.

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  4. i got tired reading this---you have a lot of energy----i would like to enter that poetry thing---i guess i will have to search for things like that---i hope your poem gets published!!

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    1. I don't feel very energetic today. It's amazing how many poetry contests, etc you can find online. Thanks. Good luck with yours too.

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  5. Hi Danielle,
    Ah yes, getting our priorities straight and it seems you are well organised in your writing endeavours.
    'Farcebook', everyone's favourite social 'notworking' site where my um 'friends' can be 'thrilled' by my 'vital to their lives', profile updates. Yes indeed, they must know that I just had a cup of coffee :)
    I am trying to restrict my time on Farcebook, sorry, Facebook. That way, I can find the better balance and be more proactive in my commenting on excellently written blogs such as yours.
    All the best to you,
    Gary

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    1. I am hoping to stay organized with my writing. I think that will be the tricky part for me.

      I love calling it 'Farcebook' and 'notworking'. I guess it's funny because it's so true. I like the perspective you put the status updates in too.

      Good luck to you in restricting your Facebook time and finding balance. I hope you'll post about the the process.

      Thank you for your kind comment.

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  6. I'm glad that you got your day of freedom. For me, summer vacation is when I get the kind of freedom you speak of. Though I'm selective with whose phone calls I answer and I'm not on fb but there are other distractions! I typically play things by ear. I'm only ever overbooked when school has me overbooked. It isn't ever by choice. Good luck with your poem that you submitted!

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    1. I'm impressed that you manage not to overbook yourself. Enjoy your summer vacation! Thanks for the good luck wish. :-)

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  7. I love that you got down on your hands/knees to wash the floor. That was the only way my mom taught us to do the floor to get a clean floor and I would do it for the longest of times except right now I'm on strike against cleaning so its not getting done. But it does come out so much more cleaner that way indeed! I'm glad you had the day to get some thinking done and some work done and that you submitted that poem! Sounds like a very productive day!

    I don't have a lot of friends on FB; I limit the friends I have there. My biggest problem is blogs......that I do have a problem with.....and I rarely if ever talk to anyone on the phone. On FB, I mainly am there to keep up with family and to play Word With Friends. I quickly go through people's updates and do a lot of likes of things and move on. Blogging, though.....that's my hardest thing. I'm constantly finding new blogs.......

    But you are right, if things are organized things do run more smoothly. Its like I always get the coffee ready the night before rather than the morning and when I worked outside the house I would have my clothes ironed and ready the night before.

    betty

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    1. The floor definitely looks really good, but I think a Swiffer or mop is a lot easier on the body.

      I like to think I'm learning things from blogs, so I'm currently not lumping them in with the time wasters I'm dealing with. :-) You sound like my husband with rarely talking on the phone. I need to be more like that.

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  8. You certainly got a lot accomplished on your "day of freedom." I expected you to write about doing fun things, and you scrubbed, ironed and organized. You really need another day off from your day off! Julie

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    1. It felt really good to get all of that done, so I was happy about it. And fortunately we were unexpectedly allowed to leave early on Friday, so I did get half an extra free day for fun stuff. :-)

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