Time Management (or lack thereof)




     My uncles are always saying that they are busier now than they were when they were working. One of my uncles says that retire means being tired over and over again. I never understood that. When you retire, you don't have to get up and go to work every day. You decide what you are going to do and when you are going to do it. Right?
   I'm beginning to understand now. I'm not retired, but I work part time as opposed to full time. That means that I should have lots of time to do the things that I want to do. Knit, crochet, read, cook, housekeeping, instrument practice, work on my Personal Progress, study my Scriptures and do service work.
   My to do lists should always get done. There is not a single task that I should have to leave for another time. I'm not working full time so I should have plenty of time to do everything. Shouldn't I?
  I'm finding that this is not the case. Take Monday for instance. I had a to do list with four items on it. The first one was to write the weekend column. I wanted to make some bean chili, bring my winter pajamas upstairs and trim my nails. (When they get too long they start to break off.) I have the list in front of me. I did make the bean chili and the weekend column was written and posted. I have not brought up my winter pajamas nor have I trimmed my nails, except for the one that broke off.
  None of these tasks are very time consuming, so why didn't they get done? What did I do instead?  I wish I knew. Even worse, why are these two tasks still not done. Part of the reason is that I did have to work Tuesday morning. We had guests for dinner on Tuesday evening so there was cleaning and meal prep that needed to be done.  I could have done them yesterday. I know I spent part of yesterday doing dishes from the evening before. C and I balanced the checkbook and then I paid my bills. I knitted all afternoon, but I had to. I'm making something for someone and it has to be done by Sunday.
  Clearly time management is something I need to work on. It's not good to be busy but not get things done. Maybe what I need to do is find an old notebook and start a time journal. The idea is similar to food journals that some people keep. If I see what I'm spending my time on, then I can see what I can cut out and replace with other things instead, like practicing my instruments.
  Another thing I should do is make a to do list every day. Then I have a guide for what I need to get done instead of trying to keep it in my head. I also have the satisfaction of being able to cross things off which will help me to feel like I'm accomplishing something.
   I just need to develop new habits when it comes to how I spend my time. I'm looking forward to getting a lot of things done.

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