Thursday, March 27, 2014

Time. It Just Takes Time


I came back to my blog last week with the intention of writing daily, and posting three or four times per week. Well...I guess I didn't solidify my goals very well. I realize now just how easy it is to let the housework, the kids, the dog, and the research take over. I allowed all those other things to take over for a year. I thought I'd conquered my issues with completing tasks and posts, but my 11 draft posts tell a different story.


Today I went to a Speak to Me Lunch & Learning event where a business coach talked about the steps we should take to get started on living outside our comfort zones. It was an excellent talk, with excellent points. I know that the "magic" happens in the doing. What I need to figure out now is how the laundry gets done and the dinners get cooked while I'm making the "magic" happen with my blog. I'm always doing, but I'm rarely completing. 

The first goal for myself is to set up a schedule where I can start and finish tasks within a specified time. (Laundry washed, folded, and put away in one day; dishes in and out of the dishwasher before lunch; house vacuumed before the kids get home from school; blog updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before 2:00pm.) I'll add in yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and look for another class on Friday mornings. And I better not forget my volunteer time with my 4th grade math group on Monday mornings. Oh, Danny Boy. Oh boy, oh boy.

I want to make some money with my endeavors here, so I better work on some goals that get me to that larger goal. I hoped that I would have time to explore those goals today in this post, but my son needs me to take him to the mall to exchange some shoes that are a half size too big. And since I really, really, REALLY want to complete this post today, I'm going to stop here and ask that you help me figure out this get-er-done issue that I have. And by that I mean, How in the hell am I supposed to get this all done?? 

Oh yeah, my in-laws are coming over for dinner tonight. Thank goodness my husband is a good and willing cook, and I'll put the kids in charge of vacuuming and doing the dishes tonight. I'll be in charge of the wine and witty conversation.


(c) Copyright 2010-2016. Erika JN Fish. Car Mama. All Rights Reserved.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Erika,

    I've certainly been (and sometimes still am) in your shoes.

    I often tell my wife that everything would get done if there were only 4 more hours in a day and one more day in a week. Wouldn't that be nice? :)

    I definitely feel your pain when it comes to finding the balance between family, work and platform. Believe me, you aren't alone!

    One of the things that I found most useful was developing a morning ritual. This one thing made me noticeably more productive and I would certainly recommend checking it out.

    I borrowed ideas directly from an episode of Michael Hyatt's "This Is Your Life" Podcast dedicated to the subject. You can check it out here:

    http://michaelhyatt.com/028-reengineer-your-morning-ritual.html

    I've also flirted with more radical ideas, such as the "Getting S*** Done Sleep Cycle" which ultimately wasn't for me, but still might hold an idea or two that you'll find useful:

    https://medium.com/better-humans/f8b43ea455aa

    Personally, I've found that taking a one day at a time approach on my own website helps keeps me focused. If I'm not careful, I'll start thinking too far ahead into the future at the expense of the present which really isn't helpful at all.

    I too used to set goals for how many articles I wanted to post per week, how many views I wanted to get per month and all kinds of other metrics.

    I since changed my way of thinking where all I want to achieve is for one person to let me know that they've found a particular piece of my content useful. I've found if that happens, all of my other stats will take care of themselves.

    In Episode 6 of the MarketPunch Podcast, I cover this more in detail along with my personal highs and lows during the first year of MarketPunch.com:

    http://marketpunch.com/006-marketpunch-year-in-review-and-the-lessons-ive-learned-along-the-way-podcast/

    I hope all that helps in some way, shape or form. Keep doing what you're doing - I'll be following along.

    Thanks!

    Jason

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    1. Thank you, Jason. Wow. Again, so helpful. I look forward to checking out your suggestions, and I will definitely take this all in. I appreciate your time and thoughtfulness today!

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