The Good Part
I am very happy to report I am 2 weeks ahead on BLP episodes and 4 weeks ahead on BOBW! I will not claim that keeping up with my schedule for the month has been effortless, but it has been helpful. I am very much looking forward to upcoming vacations where I don’t have to do any work.
(I might choose to do work, I suppose — things like responding to emails, or brainstorming about future projects. I am sure I will post here, but I don’t really consider writing blog posts work since I write what I want, when I want to!)
Pre-part-time schedule, I don’t think I ever worked on vacation. Plus, it would have been much harder to fit in when the kids were younger. But having urgent-feeling work to do on my book while in Big Sky last December has converted me forever to Team No Obligatory Work on Vacation. Thus far, I am in a decent position for our upcoming trip (or really, trips).
The “Mostly” Part:
I admit that I am struggling to implement a reasonable email management plan. After triumphantly reaching Inbox Zero in the Dallas airport (note: I always need to clarify, my version of Inbox Zero has everything dumped into archives so it’s all searchable; nothing actually gets deleted), I decided that I would try to keep up with things on a twice weekly cadence, Weds and Sun.
BUT last Weds got busy, and then Sunday rolled around and . . . I just didn’t feel like dealing with it! I actually find emptying my inbox to require a fairly high level of concentration and engagement. The hardest parts are responding to listener/reader questions — please don’t get me wrong, I LOVE receiving these! But they can add up and I want to give a thoughtful answer, which requires . . .thought.
The other part is deciding where to put tasks and bits of info I will need to access later (generally into my planner + Apple Notes, or taking care of small tasks like printing forms). It’s not arduous but it just adds up. Right now I have a jumble of camp stuff (the dreaded health forms!) mixed with end-of-school stuff.
I tried to tackle it Monday but then one of my kids had an emotional moment and I was unable to concentrate after about 4 pm (AND, this was on a day I had taken a different kid to an appointment that ate up 2 hours of the morning). It’s not exactly a mystery why I can’t get work done when I have very few hours to actually do it!
ANYWAY. I should probably end this post and get to that email!
Pic from our bday dinner out last night (A was photographer)
4 Comments
Belated Happy BDay Sarah.. glad you were able to go out and have dinner with your family… these are the moments that really count! Hope you make more memories
I do think that if you’re 2 weeks ahead on BLP episodes and 4 weeks ahead on BOBW, you’ll have approximately 2 weeks available for vacations, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger.
I’ve sent you emails earlier this month, but I don’t think I’ve sent you any further emails this month since May 11. We’ll see if I can keep that record until the end of this month.
And no, I was not expecting someone to wear sweater pants in 93 degrees Fahrenheit weather, either.
Happy belated birthday! Great pic of (most of) family!
Well, kids are always the wild card. Just when you’re sitting down to an important task (or, in my case, to read a book) some catastrophe occurs. Glad you’re “mostly” caught up and ahead of the game so you can enjoy your trip!