Day 10 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Another new day. Another new page. It is a grey morning. 1℃ outside at 8:30 in the morning. Snow and wind in the forecast. Meanwhile in the greenhouse, it is 8.9℃. The rock thermal wall and the buckets of water are doing their job well. I did not drop the shade cloth/blanket under the ceiling last night. I thought it wouldn’t hurt and might help to have a little chill for the greens and snow peas. The greens are forming their first true leaves now. The snow peas popping up in rows. I am pleased. I think we can have a fresh salad or two by end of April.
I am feeling a bit frazzled by the challenges I have undertaken. My mind is always preoccupied – thinking, thinking and more thinking. Good thing I still have presence of mind to refill my medication ahead of time. But I forgot to pick it up till now when I’m filling my week’s pill box. It will be a good reason to walk to the pharmacy later on, snow or no snow. It’s a good reason to slow down, organize and find ways of working smarter and better. What are the ways? Here are some that I’ve found on the world wide web:
- stop multitasking
- take more breaks
- front load your week
- chunk similar tasks together
- schedule tasks according to your energy level
- cut down your to do list
- take an afternoon nap
- turn off notifications
- switch back to pen and paper
- track your time and productivity
- spend time in nature
- get up early
- set up a start date for tasks
- delegate more
- know when to quit
- don’t wait for motivation
- manage your surroundings
- declutter
Here’s what I am doing at present.
- I am getting up early. Usually between 6 and 7 am. I meditate for 20 minutes. Sometimes I work on Wordle and or watch YouTube on gardening and art. Sometimes I work on my drawings if there is time before breakfast.
- I have a small to-do list each day for April. The must include a drawing for #the100dayproject, a photo for Susannah Conway’s April Love and a post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I fit in other things according to priority.
- I do chunk similar tasks together. I can’t think of examples right now.
- I don’t wait for motivation. I get motivated once I start.
- I don’t multitask.
What I could/should do.
- Review my goals more often. Why I am in the Ultimate Blog Challenge – it’s my venting, meditative space and to improve my writing. I want to strive for content, clarity and brevity. More doesn’t always mean better.
- I don’t manage my environment well. I am easily distracted. So I could set a limit to my scrolling whilst on the keyboard. Allowing myself to read one article is a do-able limit.
- I have clutter. It’s a tough one for me to clear. Maybe I should start with my head first. I have so many thoughts running around it’s amazing I can get anything done. I have to work on bringing my attention back to my breath more often during my morning meditation.
- I don’t know when to quit. It’s a good time to practice that now. Readers will be thankful for brevity. I know I am.
onethousandandtwo 
Lily, gosh, even your simplifying list is complicated! I say that with empathy b/c I am supposed to be on a cut-back load, but my creativity insists I must do these many wonderful things. And they are wonderful!
You know, Kebba, that nothing is simple or easy. 😀
Loved reading this, I thought I was the only one. I started to try and organize in March and have a list of things to do similar to yours. One of the biggest things I try to do is stop multitasking, but batch tasks too, I love writing lists so have a million of them and need to declutter as well. I am finding having a daily task list, weekly and monthly helps me to focus on just those tasks for the day. I am also doing the 100 day challenge and I decided not to stress if I don’t post. Thank you for sharing
Thank you, Amanda. Good luck to us both!
This sounds all too familiar.
What does “front load your week” mean? Get the big priorities done early in the week?
I got a new phone for Christmas, and upon configuring it, I switched off almost all the notifications. This brought me a surprising amount of peace. Way less distraction.