Okay. I'm back to the giant font because I'm writing on my iPad and I can't figure out how to get a text box instead of a title box.
On my way to practice this morning, I listened to part of an interview with a woman who was talking about the fallacy of time management. She suggested that time really can't be managed--instead, it's a matter of setting priorities and allowing yourself to do what you really value instead of filling life with just what you think you should be doing.
The show couldn't have come at a better time for me, because I was making the commute while feeling overwhelmed. At this time a year, I have a lot on my plate, and I sometimes feel like I'm pulled in too many directions. So I make lists of all the things I should accomplish (starting with a couple of easy things, of course) and then feel like a failure because I never make to the end of the list. I also have trouble enjoying anything from the list because I'm worried about what's coming next instead of staying in the moment.
She suggested that people should make a schedule for what they really want to include in their lives. That means that tomorrow I will:
Get enough sleep and snuggle with my dog
Go to Zumba class.
Enjoy making dinner for my family, including my dad and my husband's parents.
Tutor my friend Kelly.
Write tomorrow blog.
Finish my lesson plans and next week's handouts for copying.
Read something for pleasure, be it Country Living or the Rainbow Rowell book in my pile.
I will not beat myself up if I don't:
Participate in a Twitter PD chat
Clean my house as well as I do in the summer
Buy new running shoes
Start planning my next unit
Go to yoga in addition to Zumba.
I love doing all of those things, and I will get to them again, just maybe not tomorrow.
Instead, I resolve to be reasonable about what I can accomplish, and to try to enjoy all of the work and play
This is a great blog entry about time management. It is so timely (no pun intended) during this time of the school year, and I feel similarly about putting things on my daily "to do" list that truly are priorities I want to accomplish for that day, leaving the other "should do" items on a list for another day. Thanks for sharing this!
This Slice couldn't have come at a better time for me! I'm the master of a To-Do list and the anxiety that comes along with never finishing it. I'm changing my list for tomorrow right now - going to do 5 things I love doing and want to do FIRST. Thanks!
Reply
Susan Maclay
3/15/2014 02:06:27 pm
I heard this on NPR, too! It was Brigid Schulte, the author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time. I really liked that she said we don't have to feel guilty for not completing our To Do lists. I sighed out loud and felt a huge weight lifted from my chest when I heard that. Thanks for reminding me of it!
This sense of the flow of time, the reality of how we can live creatively in time is wonderful. Clock time and list time don't fit in the flow.
Thanks!