You know you are travelling a lot when the TSA Officer at your home airport recognizes you and asks, “Weren’t you just here?” September and October are always busy travel months for me. My life in the fast lane could surely make me lose my mind if I let it. Many of you are probably in that diamond lane with me. Surviving in this economy is difficult – certainly enough to drive anyone bonkers, but there are a few additives that can certainly push you into overdrive.
These might include:
• Being a working parent
• Caring for aging parents
• Coping with chronic illness, either yourself or a family member
• Volunteering for a charitable or non-profit organization
• Dealing with a move, “downsizing” a business or home
Does just thinking about your daily or weekly schedule tie you in knots?
So often we become victims of time – not enough of it.
Take the dog to the vet, pick up mom’s prescriptions, buy snacks for lunches, prepare Sunday’s menu, doctors’ appointments, DMV lines, interview at 11:00am, Staff meetings, Board meetings, publicity photos, cleaning out dead files, cleaning the house or office, mowing the lawn, write a press release, archiving Outlook, setting up interviews, status updates, meet Sandy for lunch, playing phone tag, don’t forget to take out the chicken for dinner, taking Dad to the Senior Center, kids need physicals to play sports, PTA meetings, out of toilet paper, baseball practice, charity dinner at the church, packing this room then that, and the ever popular and never done – laundry…
My own list could go on and on.
So how can we better manage our time to cover the numerous responsibilities we face every day without losing our minds? Just a few simple steps. (And if you believe that…)
1. Prioritize. Figure out what really needs to get done today, this morning, during the next hour. There may be some things cluttering up your plate that you can let go. Being a single parent, yard work has always been an incredible chore - a burden, really. I consistently felt like I was a failure when I would see my lack of attention in the color of my grass or at times, overgrown yard; this weighed heavily on me. So, I hired a gardener, that burden was lifted. Then I moved to a house without a yard. Prioritize what you have to do, let go of what you don’t.
2. Just say No. You don’t have to volunteer for every church function, for every PTA carnival, or Little League and AYSO. Learning to say “no” is difficult but you can do it. Refer to #1 -prioritize. When I went back to school, I had to let go of some of the things I loved to do – just for a while. Saying “no” today doesn’t mean you can’t say yes tomorrow. And when my work became more intensive, I had to say no again. The time will come when I can say yes again, but it isn’t right now.
3. Let someone else do it. You don’t have to do everything. It may seem that nobody can do it better or more timely than you, that is unless you are too busy to get it done at all. There are those around you who can step up to the plate and help. Your mom, your daughter or son, your co-worker, your spouse, or neighbor. Sometimes, it’s really hard to ask for help, you can do it. It is ok to delegate a portion of your work or a chore, really it is. (Let’s hope they didn’t read #2 before you ask!)
4. Organize and plan, plan and organize. Not enough can be said about creating a schedule and then informing everyone. Use a big wall calendar or a chalkboard or a white board. Family, friends, and co-workers may be less apt to ask for help and more likely to offer it, if they see how busy you really are – plain as day. I recently started using Basecamp, a project management software that is already reducing my level of “crazy”. If you need help organizing or task management advice, ask. You will be amazed by the insight living so closely around you or one tweet away. I am famous for post-it notes, they litter my desk. The trick about the post-it note is to throw it away when you accomplish the task. Out of sight, out of mind. A fait accompli…
Next time you are on a busy road, look at all the cars around you… Everyone is going somewhere, doing something. Every one. It’s pretty incredible to think that within each car, dwells a separate universe we know nothing about. The thought always awes me.
And that’s life in the fast lane.
Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology. She is also a proud mother of four residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a contributor for Blogging4Jobs. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
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