Enough, already.
Monday, May 4, 2009 at 6:21PM 
Things I don't do often enough:
- Blog
- Exercise
- Weed the garden
- Write
- Laundry
- Dishes
- Vacuum
- Floss
- Dust
- Shave my legs
Superhero Andrea has a recent blog post about doing enough by choosing what enough is. The idea came to her after reading Chris Guillebeau's 279 Days to Success Overnight manifesto, which I discovered a few weeks ago and love. Andrea sums up some things that have been swirling around in my head for awhile now. She says it beautifully, so I hope you'll read her post.
As a work-at-home freelance writer, I have a lot of time on my hands to play with. By this I mean that I can shape my days in almost any way I choose. This is a huge blessing in my life and I don't want to go back to a traditional work schedule. But the downside is that without a set schedule, writing work and domestic work start to meld together. Any time feels like a perfect time to work on a project or to do chores. As such, I'm constantly fighting off the feeling that I'm not doing what I should -- or could -- be doing. Because I haven't set specific goals (exercise three times a week) or allocated exact times for tasks (work on client projects from 1:00 - 5:00), I rarely feel like I've accomplished the day's goals.
I chafe against order and structure. I tend toward chaos. But in my heart, I know that I need a schedule -- as long as it's one that I have devised. I've been trying to do this for awhile now. I finally have some things in place that will help me create order. I'm intrigued to see if I can finally feel like I've done enough by defining what enough is.
What works for you?
Reader Comments (4)
i am complete chaos, it is my tendancy and unless i have a very structured schedule, i flounder and can lose a day to just watching sunbeams. its true. i'll watch the dust swirl and never think of actually dusting.
lucky for me (haha), i am mostly ruled by the schedules of my work; my family's schedules and all the routines that have become fixtures in my life. i manage to get much more done by actually forcing myself to do more by scheduling it and find myself with more time to actually play. its weird and wacky but true even though i still dream of being left to my own devices ... mostly. :-)
I try constantly to keep the chaos at bay, some weeks I am better than others, but my life-line is my daily to-do list. Even if my workspace, and painting studio are a wreck, I have my notebook with my most current to-do list, sitting on top of the rubble, and then I can move through what meeds to be done.
Structure and I are star crossed lovers. Nothing gets under my skin like a schedule or goals, and yet nothing moves me forward like them either.
I can point to the events in my life that cause me to fear and hate structure, authority, being told what to do, feeling trapped.
I abandoned to-do lists several weeks ago, and never felt such relief - the never ending lists felt tyrannical. I have since moved to penciling in something I want to do at a specific time and date, and that is working.
But I still have an irresponsible urge to break all commitments, default on all responsibilities, jump on the motorcycle and speed away from it all.
But that would make me a bad person, so I don't...
ok.... TMI
I try to use a tool gleaned from Zen Habits (zenhabits.net). At the beginning of each day I identify the 3 Most Important Tasks (3 MITs) I want to accomplish that day. If I get those three done I'll be a happy camper and the rest is bonus. It's not always easy, but it does help me focus.
I also sometimes use an index card to list the tasks I want to get done during a specific week - it doesn't matter which day, they just have to get done before the weekend.
Sometimes I braindump a full page of to-dos on paper just to get them out of my head.
In short, I'm addicted to paper and list-making. :)