SYL - Week 15

Conduct a time audit. 4 simple words that, as soon as they were read, spelled reality to me. Time to stop, look, listen and think. How much time did I really have in each and every day? How many tasks did I need to do each day? How many was I getting done? How many of these are actually important?


I have never seen a time management matrix before and I now love it and have spent the week thinking of things in terms of the 4 quadrants. It is great to see and notice the difference between urgent and important and urgent but not important. It is that quadrant, number 3, that gets me off track and wastes my time the most. The email I HAVE to check, the Facebook post I HAVE to read. All very urgent but not at all important. Especially if I'm in the middle of cooking dinner! Unless an ingredient is stored inside my laptop, I shouldn't be touching it whilst in the middle of preparing a dish. Seems simple but I have been getting distracted by things like this because I never bothered to slow down and consider if they were important at that very moment or not.


I have realised that I don't have enough time to complete all the things I should, or think I should, be completing each day for 2 reasons.


1. I don't prioritise. I need to stop thinking of everything as a job I need to do today. Yes I need to trim the trees but if I have done 5 loads of washing, the dishes, bathed the kids, vacuumed the floor and done some sewing, then it's not surprising I haven't trimmed the trees. I need to make a list of what needs doing and when, then I will be able to work in order of need and everything should eventually get done. (Should!! I've yet to put this in to practice properly).


2. I get distracted. This happens because I feel overwhelmed. I manage to clean 3 rooms at once and can't see what I've done in the last hour. I need to get one job done at a time so I can see results. Making lists will really help me here as well. I will be able to chip away at the jobs, already knowing what comes next so I can easily move from one to the next.


So the next move forward is to write a big master to do list and also have a go at a 'brain dump'. I'm sure I'll feel so much better with a concrete list to look back at all the time instead of carrying everything around in my head like an overfull handbag! (we all know how those can get don't we ladies!). It will also help hubby know what needs to be done instead of having to always ask. His brain doesn't work like mine, he seems to have an open box that things just fly out of instead of a bottomless handbag haha.


Priorities will go like this... Housework/Family. Me time/Sewing. Facebook/Socialising. 


I am feeling so positive today and I'm starting to realise that I have plenty of time in the day, I just don't always spend it on the right things. Time to revisit my goals and values and take another wonderful baby step in the right direction. I've never managed to continue anything for 15 weeks in a row I don't think!! I only made it to the 3rd day of the photo a day in April, oops! In my defence, I was away for half of it with no internet access so forgot what to take photos of! lol.


I'm so glad to have some wonderful blogs to read, gorgeous people to comment on my blog and a focus towards a simpler life than I have ever had before. Huge, giant, enormous thanks to Deb for her post every week that helps me clear my head and keep stepping forward xo