Anyone else guilty . . .
. . of (sometimes) choosing the easy things first and then kind of running out of energ, particularly on less-packed day? The only thing that serves as a motivator NOT to do this is (duh) a deadline. When it’s clear something is due, I can tackle it first even if it’s hard.
(THIS IS WHY my new monthly calendar practice helps a lot — it makes it very clear how much time I actually have designated as “work” time, which means creating deadlines is a lot more intuitive. With the workbook example below, a 6/6 due date might seem far way until I realize that as far as open work time goes, I only have 1-2 slots to put it in if I don’t want to use an evening or weekend — which is my current goal.)
EASY THINGS ON MY LIST TODAY
- Drop off UPS package
- Make C an ortho appt because he sustained a broken finger 3 hours before lacrosse started. Ahh well! Best laid plans, I know . . . he is in good spirits though.
- Write + record June sponsors for BLP
- Finally book my Endo Society registration / tickets / etc – pricing increases tomorrow so I have to do this. Clearly I have a lot of ambivalence about going (because normally I would have booked this ages ago) but . . . I have settled on doing it; I haven’t been to an endo conference since 2023 and I really rely on these to stay current. I just like PES (Pediatric Endo Society) so much more!
- Write this post š To be fair I don’t think I actually put this on my list! I just figured it would happen at some point.
HARDER THINGS ON MY LIST TODAY (BUT THEY HAD DEADLINES AND THUS ARE ALREADY DONE)
- Prep for an interview
- Prep for a Planning by Season session
HARDEST THINGS ON MY LIST TODAY
- Work on revising workbooks for BLP Live / BLP at Home! (YES this is a summer project!! Lot of moving parts to these courses). This does have a due date, but it’s more than a week away so does not quite feel urgent enough to light a fire — however, I do not want to be rushed so I will break this down into smaller tasks and get going today!
UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN TODAY
- Email cleanout. Just being realistic here. Mostly I have ~25 questions from podcast listeners to answer and file away for future episodes (I don’t put every question into Q&A eps, but I try to respond to all!). I think I am better served working on the above workbook revisions.
IN OTHER NEWS:
My library holds arrived!! Planning on bringing at least 2 to New Hampshire. Exciting!
12 Comments
I just finished BOTH The Bright Years and The Road to Tender Hearts! I think you will love both of them.
The Bright Years and Tender Hearts are on my hold list. I have heard especially good things about The Bright Years!
For harder and more involved tasks, I schedule time to work on them on my outlook calendar at work. I had been using a generic block for deep work but ended up scheduling over it. Having a specific block for a certain project has really helped.
This is funny because I agree that dropping off a package, making an appointment, and booking travel are not objectively hard, but this is the kind of stuff I HATE doing and thus procrastinate on. In thinking about why I hate it, I wonder if it’s the sort of cyclical nature of these tasks. There will always be more packages and appointments. But I do always feel much better once these sorts of things are taken care of so I know I need to be better about them.
I went to book endo and couldnāt pull the trigger. And then I decided it was bc I didnāt want to go! (I really prefer the peds specific meeting and this trip just felt like a little much). So off the list now, ha!
Was C trying to show his sister that he’s just as serious about lacrosse as she is about gymnastics? It seems like you’re not serious about a sport unless you break or fracture a finger just before a competition and/or travel plans. š
Oh no, C! What bad luck!
I think I just like to ease into my day and I read a column by Oliver Burkeman that validated this perspective. My problem is that I often get into the writing groove at 3pm and then have to dash out the door to get a kid/head home. Always on the evenings when I’m solo parenting, versus on nights my husband is home and I can shut myself in my office.
I have been using Reclaim.ai to be more realistic about time blocking harder work, and to avoid running out of time for big projects. Itās not perfect, and I donāt follow its plan perfectly but it has really been helping me stay on track and avoid wasting āopenā time because Iām not thinking about the fact that I need three hours to prepare for something thatās happening next month.
Super interesting!! Have not tried any tech solutions here!
Iām totally the opposite, I start with hard ones because I feel anxious otherwise. If I donāt get them done by noon, I add them to first thing tomorrow morning.
Eeep broken finger!!! Gah!!!
I have The Bright Years on hold. It came in but I had to push it b/c I had too many other books checked out at the time so I knew I wouldn’t get to it. I am very excited to read it, so I hope it comes back my way soon.
I am terribly guilty of doing easy>hard and letting the clock run out. The problem is that a lot of the hard tasks are work things that are hard no matter what, and there isn’t really a benefit to being proactive. What works well is if I have a few tasks that I want to do and a slew of not-that-hard-but-tedious stuff. Then I can make a list and “reward” myself by doing something that I want to do after I complete a few of the things that I didn’t want to do.
Ooh! Library holds arriving- VERY exciting. It’s especially fun to have new books for a trip. I’m impatiently awaiting my library holds- I have three books that I can’t wait to read and I’m like #50 on the hold list, sigh.
Poor C! You’re not having luck keeping fingers intact this year.
I’ve heard great things about The Road to Tender Hearts! It’s funny how different tasks feel to people. I’m an editor and would revise workbooks all day long before I made an appointment!