I knew starting my new job and taking on extra curriculars right away would be difficult. I am an assistant volleyball coach for the high school team here, and I'm at practice until at least 6:00 p.m. every night we don't have a game. Game nights are even later. We had an away game last night, and I didn't get home until 11:00 p.m. I can assure you, no grading was completed yesterday, nor was the laundry that needed to be put away, nor did I spend any time with my husband, nor did I properly plan for classes today. I know I'm certainly not the only coach in this world, but I just keep asking myself: where do they find the time?
I'm not just talking about school even. I don't have time to grade or plan for school. I don't have time to give all of the attention necessary to volleyball. I don't have time for a social life. I don't have time to finish the entertainment center project I started in the summer. I don't have time to make the things I need to make for my brother's wedding in October. I don't have time to cook. I don't have time to read books anymore. I don't even really have time to blog, which is why I started this post 5 days ago and am just now getting around to writing it. The problem is, if I can't find the time to do any of these things, I have no idea what I'm filling my time with!
What's wrong with me?
I'm not necessarily just writing this post to rant and complain (I'm only doing that a little). What I'm really wanting to do is make a pledge: a pledge for myself, and for those around me who are getting the brunt of my frustrations. I will do better. I have to, or I'm going to go insane. Here are some strategies I plan on using to help. Hopefully I'll be able to report back in a few weeks whether they worked or not.
1. Know how I'm spending my time - Like I already said, since I can't seem to find time to do basically anything I would need to do in day to day life, I don't really know what I'm filling my time with. For the next two weeks, I'm going to keep a time log. I'll be honest, it sounds like a silly idea to me, but if I'm honest about it, I bet I'll figure out when I'm wasting my time. If I really take the time to figure out what I'm doing during the day, I've got to be able to find what to cut out.
2. Prioritize - Obviously, my major problem is my priorities. I love that I am involved in so many things, but I don't love that I let myself get focused on one and leave behind the rest. Ultimately, even if I'm productive in one area, I am more mad at myself for letting the rest go. To-do lists used to be a daily activity for me, especially when I was in college. In the last two years, I've let it slide. I'm determined to start making lists again, and ordering them in order of importance.
3. Using a Planner - I've always loved planners. That sounds lame, but it's true. Every year for school, I loved getting a new cute planner. I religiously wrote all of my homework in it, and I would check it off every night before I went to bed to make sure I had done everything. Unfortunately, this is another thing I've dropped off on since I finished school. Last year, I bought a planner, and lost it. This year, my mother gave me a really nice planner, and I've barely touched it. I don't know what happened, but if I planned my time out in there, I bet I would get more accomplished.
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| Check out my super cool planner that is also super blank! |
4. Schedule my time well - When I made lists in college, I would also assign an amount of time to each item. If I was going to work on my essay, I was going to work on it for an hour, and I made myself stick to that schedule. This made me use my time most effectively for that hour, so I got more accomplished, AND it made me take breaks when I needed to. I'm the type of person who can't work on the same thing for hours on end. I've got to change it up, or I'll never get it finished.
5. Stop Procrastinating! - Ah, the condition I've been plagued with my whole life, chronic procrastination. This is will the toughest one to break. I don't know how many times I've said I need to start a task, and then done five other useless things before I ever start. I'm hoping that if I do every other item on this list, I'll be able to cut out the procrastination.
I'm hoping this will be a good start. If I stay committed, maybe I'll actually make a change. Who knows? Like I said, I'll try to report my progress in a few weeks.
**The information I used in my list came from this link. http://www.wiu.edu/advising/docs/Time_Management_Strategies.pdf
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