Change is the Only Constant

I’ve read in some books on writing that you should write on topics that interest you but that you don’t have all the answers for. The searching and agonizing will bring passion to your work. In that case, writing on how to keep your priorities straight is my topic! LOL!

Case in point: This month is my last month handling a big job with my RWA chapter and I am trying to get everything I do written up in a combination checklist/manual for the new person. I also have to let a couple dozen other people know there’s a new person and introduce them all by email. I took a class on managing the time to write – and haven’t had time to finish all the homework! LOL! Ironic, huh?!

My husband was home sick from work today, and I wasn’t feeling 100% so we both spent most of the day in front of the TV. But I have a friend coming over tomorrow and my apartment needs at least a cursory cleaning to keep me from being embarrassed. I have to return some moldy cheese to the store, pick up packages at our postal box, call about an incorrect bill, bake a ham for our Bible study’s Christmas party, plan and pack for a trip, color my hair, and the list goes on! That doesn’t include all my “normal” stuff like sleep, eat, run (training for a half marathon), shower, answer email, or even mail Christmas cards!

I wrote all this down so that hopefully you wouldn’t feel alone in your overwhelming life. How do you prioritize all this? Does it matter when I return moldy cheese? (Really, at what point is it too moldy to complain about?) How clean does my apartment need to be? (Can I keep my friend from using the bathroom?) How long can I go without calling my mother before I’m a bad daughter? (I called her Sunday to tell her I’d call again when I had more time to talk.) I’m sitting here grinning and shaking my head because I don’t know the answers!

But I believe flexibility is the key to staying sane, and sanity is the key to getting more done. And not long ago I came up with a new idea to at least keep me from going insane. {grin} The last few months I’ve tried to keep in mind that I can’t do everything (part of me still doesn’t believe it!), so I start the day finding a calm center. For me, that means having a start of the day meeting with God to get focused on what needs to be done. Then I pick the one or two next things that I feel really need to be done now. I do them. Then I sit down and think for a moment about the next one or two things.

Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by my list that my first two things to do are “eat breakfast” and “brush my teeth.” Maybe the next two things are “email Doug” and “pay American Express.” At this point, I must not look at the new emails that arrived since yesterday. I only send the one email I must send now, and go pay that bill. Then I think about the next one or two things.

We all know what our priorities are in a perfect world. Mine are God, John, family and friends, writing, and everything else. But my world is far from perfect and it’s scary how many days I look back and see I only worked on “everything else” and spent nary a minute on my first four priorities! My overwhelming aggravation with this recurring problem led me to find and try the solution above.

It doesn’t work every day, but it’s lowered my stress level significantly. If you didn’t notice it already, I’ll point out that my overarching problem is I have TOO MUCH TO DO. Sometimes that’s something you can change. (I can, and I’m working on it with exciting success!) Sometimes you just have to get through a rough period in life. Either way, asking others what they do, reading articles on time management, trying new solutions and then trying some more – these are worthwhile ways to actively keep your priorities straight on a daily basis. I wrote this blog at 10 o’clock last night because I very much enjoyed spending unexpected time with John – and I ended up keeping those two priorities in the right order!  {grin}

If I may point out two other blogs you might be interested in, I wrote one yesterday about not being afraid to write what you need to write. And an RWA friend, Dr. Debra Holland, wrote one about dealing with stress – scroll down to the December 3 entry.

I hope you have a very calm, if busy, week!  ☺