Cake

A Little Project management making moving stress free

Two weeks from now I'm moving 300 miles away from here and I am remarkably relaxed.  It has been crazy summer days, and yet I feel good.  When we finally made the decision to move, we made a long list of everything we needed to do to make it happen. From finding a new house and selling our old to little things like all the places that need a change of address and beyond. We included work relayed, house related and friends and family.  We took the list and divided it up to sections for each week until the move and now each week we are simply checking off tasks just as we do on our normal to do list.  Frustration has cdrveloped as things we had hopes to wrap up quickly didn't such as finding a new house (finally got one today, hooray!).  And of course some open items we can't control and that adds stress (read that as buy my beautiful home today, please.). But all in all I feel netter than I have any otherove despite this time moving with two kids and having many more items on the list.
What I have learned is that dividing any big project into smallanageable weekly chinks makes it relatively stress free.
Being relatively stress free alloww me to enjoy the process.
While I will miss the Bay area, I am excited about our new adventure and relaxed enough to enjoy it.

Unbalanced - making my own mistakes

So those of you who read here often may just not have been reading here at all.  Why? Well, because I have been what one could easily call negligent in posting new thoughts.  I have them, lots.  Some are even borderline brilliant but I haven't written them down. Among my top 3  excuses (not good ones):

1. My kids were on vacation for a week - I got out of my groove.
2. I'm finishing the book; I can't be bothered elsewhere, I might run out of interesting things
3. I'm moving.

Okay, so number 3 is a biggie, but none of them are true reasons.  No, in the last three weeks I have ignored every one of my own work life balance tips.  I have been unfocused- entering into time sinks of blogs, articles and email when I sat down to work.  Having lots open unrelated to the project I was working on and clicking back and forth.

Playing Sudoku on my iPhone instead of writing ( I like to blame my husband for putting it on my phone, but that's just one more excuse).  Listening to the daily show while working online (not one episode more like ten.).  Actually trying to work without a to do list so that I was so overwhelmed by what needed to get done that u ended up doing nothing.   

I didn't unplug, focus my time, organize my to dos, set aside time for me to do something just for me, or look at the big goals.  And while at first it was fun and valuable to just take a break. By last weeks end I was feeling pretty lousy about where I was.  So here I am back at Monday again.  I have organized my to do list into quadrants, deleted my Sudoku app from my iPhone, and returned to where I want to be. 

An hour and a half into my list I've already checked off three tasks, when I finish this it will be four. I feel like me again and like I can manage my balance.  And if I can keep on track u look forward to lunch with a good friend on Friday and maybe even a little shopping after.  It's going to be a great week.

The ever growing to do list

So I admit I am challenged, as you might be also, to saying yes to too many things and literally wanting to do it all.  And consequentially my to do list grows ever longer.  For every one thing I cross off, I seem to add two more things.
And sometimes when I look at this long, long, LONG list of tasks I am so overwhelmed that I kind of shut down. It's not so much that I do nothing it's more that I can't figure our where to start.   Do you ever feel that way?
Then after a piece of dark chocolate (or well, maybe three or four), I look back at the list and slowly, maybe, tackle it.  And once I get going I am usually fine.  

Balance tip: the importance of me

Recently I was interviewed by a writer for Redbook and as I was sharing my story the issue of balance came up.  I spent two long doing too much for others and wasn't doing anything for me.  "That's exactly how my last month was" she laughed.

We live in a go, go, go world where overextending ourselves can be a way of life.  We give to our families, careers, nonprofit, friends, etc.  It's a good thing and hopefully, our generosity is appreciated by most.  But be wary for burnout is coming.

Spring Fever - With just a little guilt

The warm sunshine and spring blooms have overtaken me and I have fallen "ill" with spring fever.  That massively productive self of two weeks ago has fallen away and my focus is blurred.  At first it was fabulous, but I admit I am now feeling not just a little bit guilty.  

Getting it Done in Less Time

Rachel Ray's 30 minute meal show on the Food Network is focused on multitasking so that you can make a home cooked meal in 30 minutes or left.  One of her favorite tips is going to get ingredients in a large bowl and getting them all at the same time so you aren't going back and forth to the pantry and refrigerator.  And when she needs onions for more than one dish she cuts them all at the same time so they are ready for the next round.  Certainly not brain surgery, but cute little tips to help you get your food prep done faster.  Essentially she is all about streamlining the work of cooking.  When I had my first daughter, I joked about how I suddenly knew how to get things done in 15 minute blocks because I never knew when they were going to come or how long they would last, so I learned how to streamline everything from household tasks to work.

Balance Tip: Get Organized

See if this rings even a little bit true:

5:00am – Turn off the alarm and turn over
5:05 am – Turn off the snooze and think about staying in the bed, but instead get up.
5:10am – Check email, grab yoga time
6:00am – Run
6:45am – Try to write press release before kid number one gets up; check email
again
7:00am – both kids up – make breakfast, brush hair, assemble lunches, get kids’ bag
together, get my bag together; wake up spouse.  MAYBE play time with kids and
read one book together
8:00am – check email again, put kids in car, kiss spouse good bye, schedule meeting
for fundraiser I’m chairing, Oops – didn’t get to my hair/makeup, AGAIN, so hair in
ponytail, grab lipstick from my bag.  That will be it for the day.
8:30am – Drop kid number one off at school
8:45am – Drop kid number two off at school #2
9:00am – Off to meeting
10:00am – Work/Write/Tweet….
2:00pm – pick up child #2 at school; 2:30 pick up child #1 at school
1:00 - 5:00pm - walk to bookstores to read and chat with our favorite staff there; outdoor play at home with ball, art class, soccer, yoga, sidewalk chalk and of course, bubbles
5:00pm - check fridge and list for what we are cooking for dinner; start prepping;
girls get down time with books and coloring and puzzles
6:00pm - family cooks dinner together and eats; bath time, more books, and finally
bed for the little ones
8:30pm - hop on laptop for 2 - 3 hours of solid work without interruption.
11:00pm - read (hopefully more than 2 pages before passing out.)

Rinse. Repeat.