Juggling

I often imagine myself as a juggler, trying to keep track of all my activities and not letting one of them fall. The thing is, I figure most jugglers max out at four balls/bowling pins/sticks of fire. I have a lot more than four things going on. I have school, two jobs, my own business, plus a house, a husband, and a dog!

While this blog seemed like something that might add to my workload, in reality it helps me streamline and prioritize my work. Many of the tasks I added to my 50 in 500 List were related to my major tasks. These mini-goals on the list help me stay focused and motivated. Plus, when I do accomplish something, it's great to come back to the blog and write about it. I love seeing the items on my list get crossed off.

To be honest, I would not be half as productive if I didn't keep lists. It is so easy to get sidetracked, or be lazy and not get something done. When I have a task written down on a list, though, I feel this push to get it done and cross it off. This is the only way I get around to finishing stuff that I don't want to do, but need to do.

To give you an idea of my list mania, let me tell you about my winter break. (Yes, I had a winter break. I work at a college. They have to give us holiday breaks to make up for the low pay.) In Excel, I titled columns with different types of projects: work, home, urgent, business, etc... Then under that heading I listed the tasks I wanted to accomplish. I ended up with a list of 35 tasks. I then implemented a multi-level system of coloring in and crossing out to show my level of completion for each task. Plus I kept track what percent of the tasks I had completed.

It's sick, I know. What's amazing, though: I completed 30 projects in about two and a half weeks. Some were big, some were small, but they all got done. Now you quick ones may have notices that I said there were 35 tasks on the list, and 30 were done. The remaining 5 have either been completed since then, are in progress, or were determined by myself and my hubby to be unnecessary. I'm okay with them not getting done in that two and half weeks. To be honest, I know that I make my lists a little.... demanding. It means I push myself to do my best and I don't slack off.