Amazing how much blogging clears my head. By the time I’d finished yesterday’s post, I already felt better and more focused. I then proceeded to have a day in which I was able to complete tasks without interruption. Instead of having a head filled with little “must go back to” memory tags, I was able to finish thoughts and fold them away neatly. Space began to open up. I’ve decided that my first attack on keeping space open is to containerize. I have lots of jobs: Mother, Accountant, Book Keeper, Inventory Manager, Writer, Chauffeur, Cook, Laundress, Graphic Designer, Shipper, Business Manager, etc. I often refer to these jobs as hats that I wear. Most days I swap hats a dozen times or more. This is fine and will probably continue. However I’ve decided to assign days to all my business hats. On the assigned day that hat gets worn first. For example: On Mondays I am an accountant first. All non-urgent accounting tasks which come up on other days will be assigned to the following Monday. I write down the task and forget about it until I unfold my accounting thoughts on Monday morning. So here is my planned schedule:
Monday: Accounting
Tuesday: Mailing & Graphic Design
Wednesday: Inventory Management & Business Management
Thursday: Mailing & Writer
Friday: Mailing & Graphic Design
Saturday: House & Family
Sunday: Church
The schedule is graphic design heavy for the next few months. When I’m prepping for a shipping, then some of those Graphic Design slots will get re-assigned as shipper slots. When conventions are imminent then more slots will go to Business Management. The most important thing is that when I get a new task instead of just putting it on today’s list, I can tell myself “I’ll handle that on Wednesday.”
The schedule is going to be messed up, of course. It already has been. A sick child at 4 am this morning means that today I’m wearing the Nurse hat instead of the Business Manager hat. But many of the Business Manager tasks I’d assigned for this week will not be hurt by waiting another week. The few that can’t wait, I’ll sneak around the edges of taking care of my child.
I like this plan. Hopefully it will help me keep my head clear.