April 23, 2008
time out
I’ve been having a hard time recently organizing my day; I sit down to work when I get back from dropping the kids at school and the VERY NEXT THING I KNOW it’s 1:30 and I’ve read every word of the Daily Mail but I’m still not finished with whatever it was I set out to do. Also I haven’t loaded the dishwasher or started any laundry or eaten any lunch.
I hate that. Especially the part about lunch.
Yesterday I was talking to some friends about this, about how we have all this TIME while the kids are at school, endless time, in theory, but we’re still scrambling around to get things done and working nights and weekends to keep up. And I said, all flippantly, that sometimes I think I need to start setting a timer, like I do for the kids, and using it to keep me on track.
And my friend said, “That’s a really good idea.” And I thought, wow she’s right that IS a good idea. I should try that!
No wonder I can’t get anything done; I’m to much of an idiot to make a decision.
Today I used the timer while I was working. I set it for thirty minutes, and used that time to deal with my email and read the New York Times (only the style section OF COURSE) and then I set it for an hour and worked on one project, and then set it for another hour and worked on a different project. When it went off, I stopped whatever I was doing and went on to the next thing.
And dammit if I didn’t have a more productive day.
I had been blaming my inability to get stuff done on my uber flexible schedule (”flexible” by the way is just another word for “working ALL THE DAMN TIME because the Internet never closes or takes days off and without the bloggers there is NO CONTENT and advertisers don’t like it when there is NO CONTENT”). It turns out my SCHEDULE isn’t the issue; the real problem is that I have the organizational skills of a first grader (with ADHD) and I need a lot of external structure to actually FINISH anything.
Good to know!
Tomorrow I have to do things that involve leaving the house; do you think it will be weird if I have my egg timer with me? If you’re in the Apple Store at lunch time and you hear a DING, look for me — I will be trying to replace my iBook power cord in under thirty minutes.
Posted by Susan @ 8:38 pm • just happy to be here
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April 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 pm, arduous Says:
This reminds me of one of my favorite “Will and Grace” episodes where they have 4 different Thanksgivings to go to so they take an egg timer, and no matter what they’re doing, even if they’re in mid sentence, once the egg timer goes off, they have to leave.
It would be funny if you were at Apple trying to deal with some stuff, and then ding, you raced out of there.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm, Anna Says:
Your cell phone has a timer, surely. Set it to vibrate, or pretend someone’s calling you.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 pm, M&Co. Says:
I use my cell phones timer feature to remind me to do stuff; take meds, give the kids meds, go to court. And my timer beeps even when I have my phone set to silent. So it’s interesting when it starts beeping in the middle of something.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:43 pm, barbetti Says:
A timer is a great idea. I have my iCalendar set at work each day, reminding me when to call someone, when to turn a machine on/off, etc.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm, Angella Says:
My best friend uses the timer just for household tasks. I hear it is an awesome tool.
Maybe I should get off my ass and get me a timer.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 pm, All Adither Says:
Do you have bathroom breaks scheduled in there too?
April 24th, 2008 at 1:43 am, Melissa Says:
At least you have the organizational skills of a first grader with ADHD. I’m pretty sure I have the organizational skills of a hamster with ADHD.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:53 am, Sheryl Says:
I’m so glad someone as together as you has these problems too. I use my oven time all the time.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:30 am, jcristg Says:
seeing as how it is 834 and i’ve been here since 802 and am only halfway through my morning blog reading, i’d say i might need to follow suit with the timer idea.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:34 am, A.Berkoski Says:
Wow, I’m just looking forward to the day when I can actually use a timer to plan out my day instead of a “Mommy, I have to PEEPOOP!” every twenty minutes. Either way, it’s still nice and refreshing to hear that someone as well put together as you feels unorganized sometimes. And I never let my husband go IN to the Mac store. We leave with no money. Haha.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:45 am, Busy Mom Says:
They say it’s your birthday.
Da na na na na na na na.
Happy Birthday!!
April 24th, 2008 at 9:37 am, Headless Mom Says:
I too need a timer. The blogs, they are a time sucker!
April 24th, 2008 at 9:54 am, yasmara Says:
There is a cool little program to use if you want to apply your timer method to hours-tracking for freelance billing (my mother-in-law has her own freelance translation business & uses it). It’s called Hourly - check it out at http://www.hourlyapp.com
April 24th, 2008 at 10:41 am, Jenn @ Juggling Life Says:
It really is all about the organization.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:35 pm, jaime Says:
I wish I had the problem of being too busy. I go to work at the office and it takes me like 2 hrs of my 8 hr day to do my work. The other 6 hrs I just twiddle my thumbs and read the news and blogs… Very dull.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pm, Jan Says:
Well first of all, I’m relieved that the title “time out” doesn’t mean you’re abandoning us here, too!
Also the timer is my very best friend. I use it both for upper-limiting the time I spend doing tasks I enjoy but that eat up my day AND for lower-limiting the time I spend on tasks that I tend to prefer not to do at all. Like tidying and cleaning toilets.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:58 pm, Penny Says:
I just have to ask - Your iBook power cord broke too?? I’ve had 3 so far.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:04 pm, standing still Says:
Three words: Cellphone Alarm Clock.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:04 pm, Karianna Says:
Glad to hear I am not the only adult who is assisted by such devices. Our kids are scattered, why not us!
April 24th, 2008 at 7:17 pm, Jenny Says:
For the love of God… don’t go to the Apple store at lunch time or any other time that could be considered “peak”. Talk about a time suck!
Mail order it. Done in 2 minutes and you don’t have to change out of your pajamas.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:54 am, Dingo Says:
I’m a new reader and I will definitely be coming back for more. I’ve also struggled with the problem of how to get more done with my day.
I set my Blackberry timer like some have sugg– Oops! Gotta go, the timer went off. Time to wash the dishes.
April 27th, 2008 at 3:15 am, Lullaby Says:
What you need is “getting things done”. It changed my life. There’s the book, the audio-book and also the CD-series with the complete seminar (which I have) and that might be an epiphany for you as well.