Time, More Please

Time, that precious commodity we all crave more of.  I had another whole post that I planned to write tonight but just now as I looked down at the growing to-do-list for school on my screen I was struck by the fact that no matter how many things I tick off in any given day more keep piling up.  So far my list has 23 things on it.  And that's not including teaching full-time and any planning (or my 28 minutes of writing each night or the fact that I have goal setting meetings at school until 8pm for the following two nights!).  It's Tuesday night already and I had planned to clear my list by Friday.  Somehow I don't think this is going to be possible.  Sigh.

Time is defined as the 'point or period at which things occur'.  But time is very relative.  There is actual time and real time.  There are always 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day.  You get the picture.  That's actual time and it doesn't ever change or vary.  Real time is different.   Depending on what you are doing time can either whiz by ridiculously fast or drag by so incredibly slowly.  An hour sitting in the dentist's chair passes like an age, while sitting in an armchair for an hour having coffee with a friend speeds by.

Part of the reason I am struggling is because I'm a perfectionist who likes to keep things ticking along, jobs completed and the list checked off neatly.  Being a perfectionist usually means that the jobs are done well, to a high standard but it also means that I like to do them myself and that takes time.  My time.  So I am going to have to come up with some sort of plan of attack.  I have been thinking of a few ways to make sure that the most important things get done this week.  And so that I keep my sanity.

So here's what I am going to do:

• Prioritise the non-negotiables for each day and for the week - narrow the 23 things down to a manageable number.  Surely those 23 things aren't all absolutely necessary to get completed this week!
• Schedule time to not be disturbed - and use this time to really work to get things done.  This is always a hard thing to do but it is going to be imperative to my list-crossing-off this week.
• Avoid distractions such as social media, TV while working - I will use my time wisely.
• Make sure I take time to relax and unwind too, I know I will be far more efficient and happy if I build this into my day.
• Delegate things that someone else could easily do - this one is important and I have lots of amazing people who would gladly help if they know I need it.  Most of them would be horrified if they read this and realised that I hadn't asked for help.

So there's my sanity-saving, Friday-finishing solution.  Now I've just got to stick to it.  Not turn it into a 'do what I say not what I do' type scenario.  

And with that I have finished my 28 minutes of writing for #28daysofwriting.  In actual time it was 28 minutes on the clock, in real time it was far, far less!

How do you make sure you don't get snowed under with work-related things?  Any advice or helpful hints gratefully accepted!