How to cure the “Not Enough Time” blues!

Wednesday May 2, 2012

Oh that can wait till another day...
I don’t have time to deal with that right now...  
I'll drop this on the to do pile over there
Tomorrow I’ll send in the entry form for that show...

Anything sound familiar?

How about these scenarios;
I’m waiting for a big chunk of free time so I can get back in the studio
My “to do” pile is so big, I’m afraid to even look at what’s on the bottom.
It’s easier for me to do it myself then explain to someone else what to do...
And
another show has come and gone without your piece being submitted.

Sounds like you got a case of the “not enough time” blues.

So here is the dirty little secret you might not want to hear:
Time is a consistent and accurate measuring system. We blame “time” when things don’t get done, but it is how we schedule our time that sabotages our results.

Basically, we can’t blame time.

We need to make time our friend instead of our foe.

How we set ourself up to fail is very simple: 

We rarely allocate the right amount of time needed to complete the task.

Think about it.
If everything we had to accomplish each day had the exact amount of time needed to actually complete the task, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

So here are a few ideas to get you out of the “not enough time” black hole.

Reality Check

Are you designating short spurts of time for each task, completing none and ending up feeling frustrated, severely behind or both?
How much time does this task really need? Not scheduling enough time for something can be the hardest habit of all to break. 
Experiment.
Try for just one day to give all the time you need to complete the first thing on your list, and don’t move to the next until the first task feels completed. Accomplishing a goal is a direct route to feeling good about yourself . Then you are motivated to take on the next challenge instead of feeling frustrated and defeated before you start.

Getting Started
Sometimes we get stuck at the starting gate. Finding the place to start is just too overwhelming, so we put the whole thing off till another day.
I like to use the analogy of cleaning out a closet. Don’t start with thinking I have to do the whole thing right now. That would make anyone slam the door shut, and make a bee-line for the couch. Start with one section, one part that is doable. Just tackle the tee shirts. Breaking down a huge undertaking into smaller individual tasks is the way to conquer any job.

Is this a Yes or a Maybe
Don’t confuse “things I’m thinking about doing” with “things I need to do” .
Getting your Master Degree, or joining the local food co-op, or even taking that great sewing class you heard about might not belong on your to do list yet. They might be better situated on a list called; things I’m thinking about. Simply removing them from your daily to do list can free up some mental space and give more clarity to what you actually want to accomplish.

Make a New Decision
Change your daily to do list to one you can actually finish each day, and then enjoy how that feels.
Drop the habit of beating yourself up for what you didn’t get done, and instead pat yourself on the back for what you did accomplish. It’s so easy to forget our successes when the list still looms large. The bottom line is we are always more motivated to move forward when we feel like we’re winning.