Happy midweek! Today I find myself behind on my New Year’s goal of writing more. I have excuses – like I was out a week sick, with strep or we have been taking care of our big fur baby after his surgery. Then I put undue stress on myself to make our house shine like the top of the Chrysler building because my in-laws came to visit…the new house….for the first time.
All of these zapped my time for sure, but what about all the extra little things that kept me from writing?
I recently started following a blog called Do A New Thing written by Christa Hutchins. In her post from Monday she asked “Do you struggle finding time to write?” This is me, exactly what I am struggling with. I am struggling with finding time to write. Or am I.
Her post got real about time management. To reclaim the time I need to complete my goals, I would need to give up something else. It is not about needing more time, it is about prioritizing the time I have.
She shared two other tips that really gave me pause to think….
Decide that writing is important and treat it that way. WOW, this really spoke to me. I mean I love to write, I think about writing, but why do I not put my time into it?
When I look back on the items that I have written, either
for work or for personal time, if I had a deadline I focused and managed my
time better than the times that I did not. I need to treat my blog writing as if I had a deadline and stick to it.
To master my time, I need to look at areas of my time that are wasted. Three
areas stand out right away. My morning and evening commute and my lunch break.
The commutes are about an hour. We have a driver and I usually sleep. My lunch
break is a waste because I tend to flip through Facebook or Instagram. That is
roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes that I am wasting really doing nothing. I wonder where else I am letting time slip
by?
I will start today evaluating where my time goes, and setting up my March planner pages to reflect this new outlook on my time and writing.
What are your tricks to writing with a purpose and managing time?
To read the entire post and see other postings from Do A New Thing go to…