Is anyone else a plugger?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm not terribly fast at things and I do tend to get overwhelmed, but I just plug along day after day. Anyone else a plugger? Is it enough? Sometimes I feel like in this fast paced world that plugging away just doesn't cut it. Any tips for how pluggers can meet the demands of this world? My kids help me too but I'm starting to realize that they are pluggers too.

[Rosie_0801]

We call them plodders.

 

 

Just wanted to contribute. :p

 

Rosie

[Sara in AZ]

Well, I tend to plan more than I can ever possibly get done. Some days I am super efficient, everything goes well, I make it to the gym, the baby takes good naps, everything goes my way......and then I can't get out of bed the next day and everything falls apart! I bet you we'd come out even in the end, and I'd probably be happier if I just accepted my limitations and stopped trying to do it all.

[Tangerine]

I just had to come in, because I saw the title and thought "Am I a plugger? I must enter to find out what a plugger is." I am definitely not a go-getter, so I must be a plugger.

[LaxMom]

I'm not terribly fast at things and I do tend to get overwhelmed, but I just plug along day after day. Anyone else a plugger? Is it enough? Sometimes I feel like in this fast paced world that plugging away just doesn't cut it. Any tips for how pluggers can meet the demands of this world? My kids help me too but I'm starting to realize that they are pluggers too.

 

The Amish seem to be making a fine show of it. I envy my Amish friend sometimes... she does all the same things I do, but they a) take her longer, b) take more physical effort and c) she has 8 kids and a farm! And she gets it all done. I need to channel that.

 

(maybe sitting here, typing away, instead of cleaning the kitchen is not the best way to go about this. just sayin')

 

(also, I think Rosie is correct. "Plodder" sounds so much less skeevy in a thread title.)

[Jean in Newcastle]

We call them plodders.

 

 

Just wanted to contribute. :p

 

Rosie

 

Maybe that's what I meant! Or maybe I'm a fire plug?:D

[Mrs Mungo]

No. I am not really a go-getter either. Go-getters stage carefully planned attacks. Everything I do is in the nature of a blitz. That is why I make lots of posts, then I might not post the rest of the day or for a couple of days. Same with nearly everything else.

[GingerPoppy]

I don't know if I'm a plugger, but I sure relate to the word "overwhelmed". I use this word to describe myself. I feel like maybe I was born in the wrong century, or at least decade. When there's too much... it's too much. When I get that overwhelmed feeling, I tend to shut down and hide away, which really makes the problems much worse, but there ya go. ;)

[i.love.lucy]

I might be. I'm very much a "do the next thing" person. I don't really plan a lot far off in the future unless it's like a vacation I want to look forward to. I have tried all kinds of schedules and planners and they make me mroe overwhelmed. I go day to day tackling what needs to happen that day. If the bathrooms are okay, they don't get cleaned that day because probably the kitchen needs attention. I just turn the page and keep going. So I guess I am a "plodder". I like that better!

 

We can't all be superstar go-getters. And I think the go-getters don't always get through a lot. They TRY a lot, they sample, they dip their toe in, but they aren't as consistent or persistent, IMHO.

 

That's why "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming..." resonates so well with many of us.

[justamouse]

I'm a plugger/plodder. I USED to be the hare. But I realized everything was just zipping by and I was always doing one thing and thinking about the next thing and ZOOOM....

 

But I reformed.

 

Slow and Steady wins the race. :001_smile:

Edited September 1, 2011 by justamouse

[Jean in Newcastle]

 

Slow and Steady wins the race. :001_smile:

 

This is my motto on Sparkspeople. But I always have this thought in the back of my mind that "the fast and steady would actually win the race!"

 

I might not win but I guess I'll finish at least.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Oh, wow. This totally describes me. I used to think of myself as a go-getter, but lately I've started to realize how little I actually accomplish, and it makes me sad. I don't think anyone else actually views me this way, but it's how I see myself.

 

The only thing I have that keeps me sane is my running list. Instead of writing on paper, I now put the note on the sticky note app on my cell phone. I see everything that needs to be done every time I use the phone, and I take great delight in erasing items :)

[Jean in Newcastle]

 

The only thing I have that keeps me sane is my running list.

 

I'm a list keeper too!

[4littleones]

Well, I tend to concentrate on one thing and achieve there while neglecting all others... What does that make me? :001_huh:

[Denisemomof4]

I'm a plugger/plodder. I USED to be the hare. But I realized everything was just zipping by and I was always doing one thing and thinking about the next thing and ZOOOM....

 

But I reformed.

 

Slow and Steady wins the race. :001_smile:

 

:iagree: Before my head injury, I had a PERFECT house; spotless, organized (with TWO stocked pantries, one upstairs, another in the basement!), ground my own wheat, made my own bread, cooked 3 meals per day from scratch, homeschooled the 2 boys while caring for dd, a toddler then (we hadn't adopted yet), beautiful gardens, regular exercise. I kept a binder which listed daily chores, things to do once per month, things to do X times per year, etc. I was SO organized. I was proud of my accomplishments but honestly, I didn't spend enough time with my kids, and I spent too much time stressing out to keep everything so perfect.

 

Now I have a clean house (not spotless although some friends think it is), and I do the best I can with my limitations. I can easily maintain but once something has been let go and needs to get organized/cleaned out again, I get SO overwhelmed and just keep putting it off. Once I do finally accomplish the task, though, I maintain it so that it doesn't get out of hand again. I'm thinking mainly of the office here. Organizing my bookshelves has been HORRENDOUS and overwhelming to me, so I've put it off for 2 years now. Awful, I know, but this weekend dh and i are going to make cubby storage for the office so that I have a place to organize all that junk that's constantly on the floor. It's the one room in the house that i throw everything in, and when I entertain, I simply lock the door. I'm making it sound worse than it is. It really won't take a lot of time to clear it out (an hour? probably less) but going through all the papers, readin things I meant to read, filing things away, etc. is going to take time. :glare: It's such a cute room. I'm going to get it back.

 

The basement, OTOH, :svengo: It's really not full of junk, but the girls keep messing it all up. We're getting rid of most of the contents slowly but surely. It's just TOO difficult to keep a place clean when it's cluttered with all kinds of junk.

 

I hope I'm on topic here. Maybe you're not even talking about the house but about life in general. :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: I add other things in life only when things at home are going well. If I'm so overbooked that I can't attend to the house or food shopping/cooking, things outside the home start to be trimmed.

 

We'll see. This year will be my busiest year yet.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Denisemomof4

[LaxMom]

I might be. I'm very much a "do the next thing" person. I don't really plan a lot far off in the future unless it's like a vacation I want to look forward to. I have tried all kinds of schedules and planners and they make me mroe overwhelmed. I go day to day tackling what needs to happen that day. If the bathrooms are okay, they don't get cleaned that day because probably the kitchen needs attention. I just turn the page and keep going. So I guess I am a "plodder". I like that better!

 

...

 

Interesting. That's why I NEED to have a plan. Then I always know what comes next and can plod along to that. Otherwise, I look around, see all the things that need to be done, and get overwhelmed.

 

Funny how one person's sanity saver is another person's stressor. :D

[desertmum]

I am definetely a plodder. For years I've eenvied a friend of mine who is super-fast, super-efficient. HTH we are all different. I keep saying to myself "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." (that's from Finding Nemo).

[Tarreymere]

I've mentioned to DH that if I went to Hogwarts the Sorting Hat would have put me in Hufflepuff..........

 

So we aren't plodders or pluggers, we're HUFFLEPUFF!

[shanvan]

I'm not terribly fast at things and I do tend to get overwhelmed, but I just plug along day after day. Anyone else a plugger? Is it enough? Sometimes I feel like in this fast paced world that plugging away just doesn't cut it. Any tips for how pluggers can meet the demands of this world? My kids help me too but I'm starting to realize that they are pluggers too.

 

Jean,

 

I know exactly how you feel and I ask myself the same questions. I was a go-getter. I crammed my day full of busyness trying to finish an impossible list. Friends and relatives thought I was crazy. Once a friend spent the day with me after I recently moved into our home. She left halfway through the day. She just couldn't hack my schedule.

 

Now, with my health issues, I am a plodder on the days when I am not completely overwhelmed and scattered (which is how I've been this week). Sometimes the fogginess (fibro fog) in my brain makes it hard for me to even figure out what should be done next. No more multitasking (It's overrated anyway). I am fortunate if I am able to figure out which task needs to be done and plod through it. I really have to watch myself on the negative self talk. I can get very cranky if I measure myself against others, or even against myself as I was years ago.

 

Instead I try to tell myself that going slower means I can pay more attention to what I'm doing, enjoy it more, have a better attitude about it. I wonder if the emphasis on fast pace and doing it all contributes to a scattered frame of mind. Because your always going through 'the list' in your head, do you lose the ability to really focus and give attention to a task?

 

I really do think our society puts too much emphasis on being fast--sometimes sacrificing attention to detail. Even when I look back at my multitasking days, when I really think about it, I got a lot done, but it wasn't done as well as it could have been if each task had been given the proper attention. My Dh paints beautiful, detailed oil paintings. It takes him a looong time to finish a painting and he is not trying to do anything else. All of his attention is focused on that painting. The results are incredible.

 

Like another poster, when I do try to keep up with the demands of the world, I end up crashing later and being useless for a while afterward. If one of the kids activities dictates that we have to pick up the pace, then I try to make sure I don't schedule anything leading up to or following it. I weigh the activity against the consequences-- ask myself if it is truly going to exhaust me, or if I am building it up in my head. Occasionally, I just opt out if I know I can't handle it.

 

I have decided that mostly I cannot meet the world's demands, and sometimes I think that's a good thing. What I really desire is more time for thought and contemplation, for creating a peaceful home environment, for baking, reading good books, leisurely walks in the local parks, for enjoying my family. That doesn't happen when I try to meet the demands of the world, or even the people around me. I also realize that I have to accept my limitations and I have to show my kids what it looks like to accept your own limitations.

 

One thing I have found helps....instead of keeping a to do list, start with a blank piece of paper and record everything you do in a day. I mean each and every thing. Even if it is a phone call that had to be made. I always feel better after I do this since I am pleasantly surprised at how much got done.

 

Anyway, Jean, I have the same thoughts you have. I just have to keep telling myself plugging is enough (even though the little voice in my head whispers otherwise).

 

Shannon

 

Attached a sample of Dh artwork...

Edited September 1, 2011 by shanvan

[Alte Veste Academy]

No. I am not really a go-getter either. Go-getters stage carefully planned attacks. Everything I do is in the nature of a blitz.

 

:lol: This is how I work too, although I never looked at it in these terms before.

 

Well, I tend to concentrate on one thing and achieve there while neglecting all others... What does that make me? :001_huh:

 

I feel like a plate juggler sometimes. I get one plate spinning beautifully and then notice that the others are falling all around me. The trick I want to learn is how to get them all spinning reasonably well simultaneously. Maybe an auto-spin setting for a few of the plates...

 

I really do think our society puts too much emphasis on being fast--sometimes sacrificing attention to detail. Even when I look back at my multitasking days, when I really think about it, I got a lot done, but it wasn't done as well as it could have been if each task had been given the proper attention. My Dh paints beautiful, detailed oil paintings. It takes him a looong time to finish a painting and he is not trying to do anything else. All of his attention is focused on that painting. The results are incredible.

 

One thing I have found helps....instead of keeping a to do list, start with a blank piece of paper and record everything you do in a day. I mean each and every thing. Even if it is a phone call that had to be made. I always feel better after I do this since I am pleasantly surprised at how much got done.

 

Attached a sample of Dh artwork...

 

Love your idea, and your DH's art is lovely!

 

I definitely need to work on focus. The ability to multitask is sometimes a curse for me. For me, the question is how to keep the plates spinning while focusing on one for a while.

 

Jean, if it makes you feel any better, as a blitzer, I aspire to be a plodder/plugger. :D I feel good when I'm blitzing but I sure do wish I had a medium speed. As it is, my two settings appear to be "blitz" and "off."

[Jean in Newcastle]

Shanvan, your dh's art is absolutely beautiful!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Jean, if it makes you feel any better, as a blitzer, I aspire to be a plodder/plugger. :D I feel good when I'm blitzing but I sure do wish I had a medium speed. As it is, my two settings appear to be "blitz" and "off."

 

Prior to my adrenals starting to burn out, I was a blitzer too. I just can't blitz anymore. I haven't totally adjusted to my plodder status.

[LibraryLover]

There are so many activites (3 kids at home x only 1 or 2 activites still adds up quickly!) I just cannot do more. There is something going on all the time. Plus, I am the oldest sibling *and* I seem to attact people who want me to take care of them. That takes it's toll. I know I simply cannot do everything, be everywhere. I also like a tidy and organized home. That is something that gives me inner peace. Taking most days, no matter what, to chop veggies and create heatlhy meals brings me peace. I like to take my time, I like to be home in the late afternoon to do this. I don't want fast food, fast read alouds, passing each other in the night etc. It's why I try to go to all of my children's performances, drive them to their practicies etc. This way we are togehter, even as they grow with their interests. This makes life a little more complicated...but it's where the plodding comes in. Do one thing, do the next thing...just do it...and without holding my children back (just because I want to be home most of the time doesn't mean it's the right this for them).

 

I do what I can, and what I cannot do, I don't do, or I delegate. I tell my hsing friends all the time I can't be somewhere. I will never do the skiing program in winter, fi, as we need to leave the house, completely packed for the day, by 6:30 am. No can do, not even once a week. My poor New England kids are terrible skiers. I feel guilty about that...and guilt takes the greatest toll of all. (Oh, that my guilt was only about skiing! lol)

 

I wish I was an Amish mother sometimes (someone brought up Amish mothers in this thread) even though I know they work so hard! because then I could let go out the guilt of not doing enough to help them prepare for the modern world. I love the home arts. I could spend all my days gardening, canning, cooking, moving the chickens to new grass etc. The trouble is I think experiences are important. Sometimes I'd rather stay home than plan a trip to the Pompeii exhibit in NYC or Boston Ballet etc etc etc.

 

When people ask what makes for a well educated child, I would say that experiences, travel, museums, exposure to ideas, art, music, plays, and various people and books top my list. So I plod and plod, and then plod a little more.

 

Currently I am pretty tired. This summer has been amazingly busy. I have to be several places today and all I really want to do is can tomatoes. (Keeps us in unadulterated organic sauce+ all winter, so it's not something I want to blow off.) When all of the the children are grown and gone, I will have time...but then I won't have as great a need for a winter's worth of tomatoes etc. ;) I guess I will have to mail them in bubble wrap to my children whom I'm sure will be scattered to the four winds. For now, I just plod. :)

Edited September 1, 2011 by LibraryLover

[Sputterduck]

Jean, if it makes you feel any better, as a blitzer, I aspire to be a plodder/plugger. :D I feel good when I'm blitzing but I sure do wish I had a medium speed. As it is, my two settings appear to be "blitz" and "off."

 

Me, too! I wish I was a plodder. Much less stress.

[Jean in Newcastle]

There are so many activites (3 kids at home x only 1 or 2 activites still adds up quickly!) I just cannot do more. There is something going on all the time. Plus, I am the oldest sibling *and* I seem to attact people who want me to take care of them. That takes it's toll. I know I simply cannot do everything, be everywhere. I also like a tidy and organized home. That is something that gives me inner peace. Taking most days, no matter what, to chop veggies and create heatlhy meals brings me peace. I like to take my time, I like to be home in the late afternoon to do this. I don't want fast food, fast read alouds, passing each other in the night etc. It's why I try to go to all of my children's performances, drive them to their practicies etc. This way we are togehter, even as they grow with their interests. This makes life a little more complicated...but it's where the plodding comes in. Do one thing, do the next thing...just do it...and without holding my children back (just because I want to be home most of the time doesn't mean it's the right this for them).

 

I do what I can, and what I cannot do, I don't do, or I delegate. I tell my hsing friends all the time I can't be somewhere. I will never do the skiing program in winter, fi, as we need to leave the house, completely packed for the day, by 6:30 am. No can do, not even once a week. My poor New England kids are terrible skiers. I feel guilty about that...and guilt takes the greatest toll of all. (Oh, that my guilt was only about skiing! lol)

 

I wish I was an Amish mother sometimes (someone brought up Amish mothers in this thread) even though I know they work so hard! because then I could let go out the guilt of not doing enough to help them prepare for the modern world. I love the home arts. I could spend all my days gardening, canning, cooking, moving the chickens to new grass etc. The trouble is I think experiences are important. Sometimes I'd rather stay home than plan a trip to the Pompeii exhibit in NYC or Boston Ballet etc etc etc.

 

When people ask what makes for a well educated child, I would say that experiences, travel, museums, exposure to ideas, art, music, plays, and various people and books top my list. So I plod and plod, and then plod a little more.

 

Currently I am pretty tired. This summer has been amazingly busy. I have to be several places today and all I really want to do is can tomatoes. (Keeps us in unadulterated organic sauce+ all winter, so it's not something I want to blow off.) When all of the the children are grown and gone, I will have time...but then I won't have as great a need for a winter's worth of tomatoes etc. ;) I guess I will have to mail them in bubble wrap to my children whom I'm sure will be scattered to the four winds. For now, I just plod. :)

 

LL your post really spoke to me.

[laughing lioness]

I'm a blitzer and a plodder depending on the day, but mainly I'm a muller. If I don't get mull time I don't blitz or plod, I just sit in a stupor and play Spider Solitaire (there, True Confessions).

[Sahamamama]

I'm not terribly fast at things and I do tend to get overwhelmed, but I just plug along day after day. Anyone else a plugger? Is it enough? Sometimes I feel like in this fast paced world that plugging away just doesn't cut it. Any tips for how pluggers can meet the demands of this world? My kids help me too but I'm starting to realize that they are pluggers too.

 

Yes, I am a plodder. My life mascot is the tortoise. :D For example, there are days when we do not get in a full "school day," but we are able to do something. There are days when all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, yardwork, errands, and chores don't get done, but we are able to do something. My theory is something is better than nothing.

 

If you really feel that you have about 65% of the energy you need for life, then get your thyroid checked.

 

Also, my mom says that as she aged, she had to learn to plod better, because her usual "fast burn" mode didn't work as well as it had when she was in her 30s, 40s and 50s. She says that she accomplishes the same amount, it just takes at least twice as long. "Start early in the day, plod along, take a rest in the early afternoon, and then wrap up the evening earlier than you think you should." That's how she handles it at 75. HTH. Hang in there, Jean.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Yes, I am a plodder. My life mascot is the tortoise. :D For example, there are days when we do not get in a full "school day," but we are able to do something. There are days when all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, yardwork, errands, and chores don't get done, but we are able to do something. My theory is something is better than nothing.

 

If you really feel that you have about 65% of the energy you need for life, then get your thyroid checked.

 

Also, my mom says that as she aged, she had to learn to plod better, because her usual "fast burn" mode didn't work as well as it had when she was in her 30s, 40s and 50s. She says that she accomplishes the same amount, it just takes at least twice as long. "Start early in the day, plod along, take a rest in the early afternoon, and then wrap up the evening earlier than you think you should." That's how she handles it at 75. HTH. Hang in there, Jean.

 

I would make a really good 75 year old. The problem is that I'm good at that pace a little less than 30 years too early;)

 

I have thyroid problems (taking medicine for that), adrenal problems (dealing with the underlying causes for that), and then that catch-all fibroymyalgia. I'm actually improving on the health front. I used to make a really good 85 year old:D

[Georgiana Daniels]

I'm a list keeper too!

 

Sometimes it's enough to just do the next thing next.

 

It's my impression that, for the most part, homeschoolers are go-getters regardless of hare/tortoise tendencies. It's easy to be hard on ourselves, when what we should really do is give ourselves grace.

 

Growing great kids really isn't a race, and isn't that the priority? It really is okay to occasionally back-burner the other stuff. :)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Sometimes it's enough to just do the next thing next.

 

It's my impression that, for the most part, homeschoolers are go-getters regardless of hare/tortoise tendencies. It's easy to be hard on ourselves, when what we should really do is give ourselves grace.

 

Growing great kids really isn't a race, and isn't that the priority? It really is okay to occasionally back-burner the other stuff. :)

 

Thank you. I needed that reminder.:)

[GingerPoppy]

GORGEOUS artwork!

[trailofsparks]

Recently, when an acquaintance discovered I homeschool my dc he remarked, "Wow... that's ambitious." Because I am a plodder - plan ahead and work slowly to reach very reasonable goals - I was stunned by his comment. However, the more I've reflected on it, the more I have had to agree. It is a rather ambitious undertaking :w00t: Sometimes that thought scares me b/c I am not a "go-getter" at all, in my mind.

 

Eta My siggy is there to remind me of what it takes to get the job done: a steady trail of sparks.

Edited September 1, 2011 by trailofsparks

[sassenach]

I think I am also a blitzer. I will create these huge tasks for myself (ex: I started a co-op last year that has grown to 47 children), and then hope for the best when it comes time to pull it all off. I basically cope by doing a huge amount of work all at once, and then plug away the rest of the time. Every once in awhile, my commitments all come to a head. I'm sure my life looks stupid crazy sometimes, but it only feels that way occasionally.