How many projects do you juggle?

[Carrie12345]

By my definition, for this purpose, “project” means anything outside of your normal, routine obligations. So, cleaning out a closet or preserving a short season, large volume crop might be projects but, if you do a little daily or weekly decluttering or dedicate an hour a day to the garden for months on end, those might just be normal ‘obligations’.
Projects could also be about learning something new, planning the school year, looking for a new job, trying to start a new routine, etc.

So, how many projects do you tend to juggle at once? 
Separate question - how many projects do you feel COMFORTABLE juggling at once???

I’m curious because I have too many ongoing projects and it’s messing up the regular things I need to do everyday. Apple season is coming and I’m pretty sure it’s going to knock down my house of cards. 😝

[Katy]

I do one to three extra things (outside of my routine) per day. 

[TheReader]

Hmm. 

I'm usually juggling (actively touching/working on) 2 quilt projects at a time (with many more in the wings waiting their turn). 

I usually mix in 1 or so other "household" projects on weekends (helping DH in the garden; decluttering the closet or the pantry; etc.). 

I sometimes mix in 1 or so Bible Study thing/project/other thing. 

That seems to be my max.  My daily routine has grown to include homeschooling my youngest, teaching 3 classes at the homeschool "co-op" (enrichment center? a la carte classes that parents pay for), and tutoring 1 (at the moment) student outside of class. Before I had that much, I could juggle one or two more things in there, but that's about it. Oh, and now fencing class (I attend). 

I do have a routine of when I work on these things though -- so, Weds nights I get 2 hrs of sewing time, as well as a few hours on Friday nights. Weekends I do a household thing, and sew. Tuesdays I prep for my Weds. co-op class; Thurs I prep for my Monday classes. Bible Study gets done in the morning while I have coffee. School DS on Tues, Thurs, Fri (DH does his subjects on Mon/Wed, and DS does independent stuff daily).  Thurs nights is fencing night. 

But having more than 2 *active* quilt projects at a time is too much, partly/mostly due to space. I could rotate through more than that, if I had more space, but right now, 2 at a time is about it. 

[HS Mom in NC]

4
two physical: ornamental garden and food forest
two creative: hand sewing while watching tv with the family and machine sewing on my own watching my own shows on my laptop

[Farrar]

Millions!

Oh, wait, are we supposed to catch those juggled balls? Oops.

[PeterPan]

One. But that's my norm for my everyday. If I have more things, then things trade. 

You did see the Mythbusters episode on multitasking, right? 

 

[Carrie12345]

34 minutes ago, Farrar said:

Millions!

Oh, wait, are we supposed to catch those juggled balls? Oops.

That’s how I’m feeling, lol. 
I keep thinking I simply need to form a schedule of projects and just stick to the schedule and all will be fine, but I also know I’m terrible with rigid schedules.  Prioritizing helps a little bit, but lower priorities have a way of sneaking into my brain space and distracting me!

[SKL]

I don't think of myself as doing projects, just parts of an ongoing, never-ending whole.

Maybe I'm not ambitious enough.  😛

[Beth S]

Absolutely Only One.  🙂
But always One . . . and Project #2 is in the wings.

[Junie]

I have so many projects that I'm in the middle of that I can't even tell you.

It's kind of a theme in my life, though.  I'm always in the middle of at least 3 books (usually more).  I always have 30+ tabs open on my computer.

I sometimes wonder if I have Attention Deficit Disorder.

[fraidycat]

For most projects, I don't work on them every day, so on a day-to-day basis, I "juggle" one or two at most. I might have 2-5 projects on the go at one time, but one usually gets priortized over the others.

For example, decluttering my garage was my main August project/goal. I got so much done because it was my focus for the whole month. It's not perfect, but it's 900x better than it was.

I had already set my September goal/project to be the back yard. So my focus has shifted to working out there. So any free time I get, that is where I go. It's amazing how much I can get done in 15 minutes or an hour, just by knowing what I "should" be working on, instead of having to think of what I should be working on, then choosing to sit on the couch and relax because all that thinking was exhausting 😂.

My "side project" has been decluttering my closet, which happens here and there on crappy weather days or as I'm putting away laundry. It helps that I've made room in the garage to set donatable stuff until I'm making a run to the donation center.

I'm not sure what October is going to be -possibly a continuation in the yard, weather depending. But come winter, I have a couple pretty big projects lined up and ready to go indoors. I don't even have to think about them right now, because they are slated to be done later.

TL;DR - Setting one main goal/area of focus helps me achieve a lot more than being overwhelmed with too many choices about what I "should or could" work on. Also having a deadline (end of the month) helps to keep it a priority.

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by fraidycat

[Bootsie]

I don't even know how to begin to count.  I am teaching a new class this semester which developing that is a "project".  I have other classes that I have taught before, but those must be adapted to current events, new students, differing class size, etc., so those are "projects", but then do I count the class as a project or something like setting up the Learning Management System as a project, writing exams as a project, grading exams as a project?  I have a five-week study that begins this week.  A new online ballet class, Writing a book, Editing another book, developing a summer program proposal, cleaning out the garage, redoing garden beds, have a crochet project I am working on, taking a bridge class (although that is off-and-on because of COVID), working through a stack of bread baking recipes I wanted to try, trying some hand-piece quilting...

[cjzimmer1]

I would guess 1-2 projects  per day is the max I can tackle but it doesn't mean I'm finishing that project.  I consider preserving food to be an ongoing project and it won't really be done until after it freezes but any day I'm working on that kind of stuff definitely leaves me wiped.  I try to pick the garden every 2-3 days so I'm also working on preserving at about that schedule. I'm working on deep cleaning the house since I've really gotten off my cleaning schedule the last year which means yesterday when I decided to wipe down the bathroom (not normal cleaning things like wiping off the top of the shower tub, washing walls, cleaning doorframes and woodwork etc) then turned into dismantling the washer dryer closet (because we have to remove the bifold doors to get the appliances out which turned into cleaning the dryer vent and then removing the back panel of the dryer to clean out the build up inside (never done that before so it took me forever to find the right tools for the job) and then put everything back together when I was done.  Kinda felt like a 3 job day with as many hours as were spent on it.  

When I KonMari(ish) my house, it took me 4 years to get through everything but I'm expecting it should be less painful this time around.

[SounderChick]

1 at the most chronic pain caused by autoimmune issues has made me really  conserve energy.  

[HS Mom in NC]

1 hour ago, Carrie12345 said:

That’s how I’m feeling, lol. 
I keep thinking I simply need to form a schedule of projects and just stick to the schedule and all will be fine, but I also know I’m terrible with rigid schedules.  Prioritizing helps a little bit, but lower priorities have a way of sneaking into my brain space and distracting me!

Would a "Get To ______________" List help you?  Say you're working on one thing and something else pops into your head that you need to get to at some point.  Would having a list in a handy place where you can immediately write that something else down then get back to the one thing soyou no longer need any brain space for the something else because the list is keeping track of that for you.

When you're done with the one thing, then you can go to your "Get To ________________" List and pick a new thing to be your one thing and when a new something else pops into your head you can write it on the "Get To _____________" List for consideration when you're done.  You can also refer anyone offering to help you to the "Get To ___________________" List to pick something that you want done but don't have time for now.

[BlsdMama]

3 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

By my definition, for this purpose, “project” means anything outside of your normal, routine obligations. So, cleaning out a closet or preserving a short season, large volume crop might be projects but, if you do a little daily or weekly decluttering or dedicate an hour a day to the garden for months on end, those might just be normal ‘obligations’.
Projects could also be about learning something new, planning the school year, looking for a new job, trying to start a new routine, etc.

So, how many projects do you tend to juggle at once? 
Separate question - how many projects do you feel COMFORTABLE juggling at once???

I’m curious because I have too many ongoing projects and it’s messing up the regular things I need to do everyday. Apple season is coming and I’m pretty sure it’s going to knock down my house of cards. 😝

I don’t even know how to quantify this. Our family does a lot of landscaping, remodeling, gardening. Iowa has four distinct seasons so projects are wildly seasonal. It means every 3-4 months there’s a full set of new projects. 
Learning new things is also constant. Maybe that’s why our life feels haphazard...

[Pam in CT]

2 hours ago, Farrar said:

Millions!

Oh, wait, are we supposed to catch those juggled balls? Oops.

so

much

this

 

 

Some of them are distinctly seasonal/ timebound, so those ones HAVE to get done (I organize our town's statewide or municipal debates; I have various recurring synagogue commitments around the Jewish holiday cycle; I'm on the board of another civic organization that has two annual events; I plant in spring and put-the-garden-away in fall).  But without that kind of exogenous structure... a fair percentage of my other Big Ideas face significant completion risk.

Oh well.

[HS Mom in NC]

I should probably have added that physical projects are usually outdoors and creative projects are usually indoors. The weather and season (homeschooling or school breaks) usually affect which I do on any given day and for how long.  I also have neck and osteoarthritis issues that can affect every project differently, so those figure in too.  That's why having a wide range is so useful to me.  If it's a high pain or more painful day I may do something like watering the gardens or researching info relevant to a project if I can. If it's a less painful day I'll skip the hand sewing.  If it's a no pain day I can do whatever the weather and time constraints allow. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Junie said:

I have so many projects that I'm in the middle of that I can't even tell you.

It's kind of a theme in my life, though.  I'm always in the middle of at least 3 books (usually more).  I always have 30+ tabs open on my computer.

I sometimes wonder if I have Attention Deficit Disorder.

Same!

I will say, though, I don’t do this as much now that I am working FT. (Although I am replying to this on my phone while eat my lunch I prepared during dinner last night.)

I usually do have 3-4 projects happening; I also make certain things part of my routine, so the line between project and routine is fuzzy. I’m practicing French on Duolingo every day; I’m in Book Club, so I read daily; I’m subscribed to the art boxes so I try to do art almost daily. Plus exercise and yoga, which is sort of a project but has become routine. 

[Carrie12345]

47 minutes ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

Would a "Get To ______________" List help you?  Say you're working on one thing and something else pops into your head that you need to get to at some point.  Would having a list in a handy place where you can immediately write that something else down then get back to the one thing soyou no longer need any brain space for the something else because the list is keeping track of that for you.

When you're done with the one thing, then you can go to your "Get To ________________" List and pick a new thing to be your one thing and when a new something else pops into your head you can write it on the "Get To _____________" List for consideration when you're done.  You can also refer anyone offering to help you to the "Get To ___________________" List to pick something that you want done but don't have time for now.

Well, I definitely have lists! A major list, a running general to-do list, and a daily to-do list. And sublists, sometimes on paper, sometimes in my head!

For example, I’m working on packing/decluttering things I can do without until we move. There’s overall, there’s each room, and there’s moving the boxes into our storage pod.  
There’s also a LOT of financial stuff going on in preparation for some craziness with multiple variables and meeting with a professional when those variables become known in just a few weeks. And things I’m trying to learn/understand to make that meeting go more smoothly.  
Within that financial stuff, there’s also getting hard numbers to solidify our budget for new house stuff like window coverings, water filter system, appliances, etc.  Costs are constantly changing, so lots of trade offs to be made.

There’s indoor repair/touch ups to be done, outdoor repairs/sprucing to be done, and a lot of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie in those areas.  Dh just re-leveled our porch, so now I need to power wash it, get enough sun to dry it, and re-stain it, but I keep playing chicken with the weather.
I have out of the ordinary errands to run, and can’t figure out where to fit them in!  
Dh wants to start working on Christmas lists because of the craziness with shipping containers.  
School is... limping along with all the resources  we need, but I’m not up on “lesson planning” and it shows.

Dh and DD are pretty swamped with their regular obligations and only a little bit helpful, sporadically.

And those are just the projects that HAVE to get done. There are more lists, lol, but I can’t get to those.

 

[Arcadia]

None. I might have multiple interests concurrently but not actual projects. Oldest is applying only to state universities and their app are relatively straight forward so minimal nagging to do. We are still house hunting but that’s an ongoing thing.

[prairiewindmomma]

Currently I have about 7. It’s too much, but these are things that I didn’t choose to do, that life put on me, and they need to be done. 

[Wheres Toto]

If you don't count things that are related to running my business or homeschooling, I don't think I have anything currently that I would consider a project. 

I mean, I have homeschool planning to do, and class planning to do, and paperwork for the start of a new year of both, but most of it is at least to some extent ongoing.  

I'm busy around 10 hours a day just doing the stuff for classes and homeschooling.  

[Eos]

A lot.  We call it Projects Anonymous - a brilliant, creative idea strikes (or so it seems) and sucks all my and/or my family's focus for the days or weeks it takes to get done.  The on-going things are homeschooling, hiking, helping run our business, gardening, library board, town politics.  The Projects Anonymous things are like designing and making a massive papier mache puppet for the parade, researching family history papers, making board games, pesto or apples (butter, pies, sauce, dried, cider) or political stuff like cutting 1,000 connected paper dolls to bring to a family separation protest.  I will say the political theater projects have thankfully lessened recently.

Edited September 7, 2021 by Harpymom

[Bootsie]

As far as how many projects I am comfortable with at a time, I think I am just a "project" type of person rather than a routine person.  I have a routine of brushing my teeth and putting the trash out the night before it is collected, but other than that (and going to church on Sunday morning pre-COVID), I am not much of a routine person.  I could never do all of the household laundry on Monday, or have Tuesday Taco night, or read my devotional first thing every morning.  Part of that is because of my work--one semester I have a Tueday night class, the next semester a Monday night and a Wednesday night class, the next semester no night classes, etc., and one week I have a ton of papers to grade and the next week none.  But, I made career choices that were in line with my preferences.  I have a cousin who is a nurse practitioner--who routinely works 60+ hour weeks.  She will work night shifts, long shifts, all weekend--she says she never felt so tired and like she was working so much when she had an 8-5 nursing job that was very routine.  We are people for whom routine is stressful and gets in the way of our projects.  

[kbutton]

17 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

As far as how many projects I am comfortable with at a time, I think I am just a "project" type of person rather than a routine person.  I have a routine of brushing my teeth and putting the trash out the night before it is collected, but other than that (and going to church on Sunday morning pre-COVID), I am not much of a routine person.  I could never do all of the household laundry on Monday, or have Tuesday Taco night, or read my devotional first thing every morning.  Part of that is because of my work--one semester I have a Tueday night class, the next semester a Monday night and a Wednesday night class, the next semester no night classes, etc., and one week I have a ton of papers to grade and the next week none.  But, I made career choices that were in line with my preferences.  I have a cousin who is a nurse practitioner--who routinely works 60+ hour weeks.  She will work night shifts, long shifts, all weekend--she says she never felt so tired and like she was working so much when she had an 8-5 nursing job that was very routine.  We are people for whom routine is stressful and gets in the way of our projects.  

I bet you'll LOVE retirement!!!

I am not quite this extreme, but I am more like this than not. Even when I had job with set hours, as much as possible, I tended to divide my work up into distinct areas where if I was bored with one task, I could do another for a while. Or if I needed to concentrate on something intense, I could clear my schedule. Other days, I could do lots of little one-off tasks. 

I do the same at home when I can.

[HS Mom in NC]

6 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

Well, I definitely have lists! A major list, a running general to-do list, and a daily to-do list. And sublists, sometimes on paper, sometimes in my head!

For example, I’m working on packing/decluttering things I can do without until we move. There’s overall, there’s each room, and there’s moving the boxes into our storage pod.  
There’s also a LOT of financial stuff going on in preparation for some craziness with multiple variables and meeting with a professional when those variables become known in just a few weeks. And things I’m trying to learn/understand to make that meeting go more smoothly.  
Within that financial stuff, there’s also getting hard numbers to solidify our budget for new house stuff like window coverings, water filter system, appliances, etc.  Costs are constantly changing, so lots of trade offs to be made.

There’s indoor repair/touch ups to be done, outdoor repairs/sprucing to be done, and a lot of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie in those areas.  Dh just re-leveled our porch, so now I need to power wash it, get enough sun to dry it, and re-stain it, but I keep playing chicken with the weather.
I have out of the ordinary errands to run, and can’t figure out where to fit them in!  
Dh wants to start working on Christmas lists because of the craziness with shipping containers.  
School is... limping along with all the resources  we need, but I’m not up on “lesson planning” and it shows.

Dh and DD are pretty swamped with their regular obligations and only a little bit helpful, sporadically.

And those are just the projects that HAVE to get done. There are more lists, lol, but I can’t get to those.

 

Move projects are their own category that's basically a tornado of crazy.  It's an avalanche of projects that all have to get done in in specific order and on certain time frames. Our To Do List for our cross country move 3 years ago was many single spaced, type written pages long.

OK, so is there anything at all on your list that your kids can do?  I would consider power washing to be a tween-teen job involving being checked on when the kid thinks they're done.

Do you have older kids who can pack and load boxes into pods? Do touch up paint?

Can you buy processed frozen meals and assign a kid the job to reading directions, setting the oven temp, and putting it in? Buy some bagged salad and BOOM! dinner.

Can you maybe cut back to just math, reading a great book, and watching quality science videos documentaries for a couple of hours a day then they help you with other things for a while and dive back in deep full time after the move.  Maybe add some extra school next summer to make up for it if needed?

Can the kids make their Christmas lists (top 2-3 most wanted things) and you buy just those and have them wrapped online (Amazon offers wrapping) and be done with it? Or buy decorative bags and BOOM! Christmas presents wrapped. Maybe get one surprise family gift in addition that will be a surprise if surprises matter to you?
 

[footballmom]

On weekdays, I can reasonably fold in one extra thing or project I’m chipping away at.  On the weekends, I can juggle 3-4 extra things or projects i.e. clean out and organize pantry, sort itemize and drop off donations, plan for xyz board meeting.  Weekdays are too full with work and shuffling kids around to do anything meaty. So, if I started a major project on the weekend i.e. declutter garage, I could use the following Monday through Thursday to tie up lose ends from the declutter. 

[theelfqueen]

I dont so much juggle them as put them in a mental pile and rifle through it at random while some things roll off the pile and under the mind-couch to be forgotten. 

[RootAnn]

One.

[Ausmumof3]

I think it’s too hard to narrow down what counts as project versus what counts as life and also it really depends what else is going on at the time.  Does learning Italian count as a project or routine thing?  Getting a certificate? I have two kinds of work - one is contract and sporadic and the other is regular and routine but it doesn’t make much sense to separate the two. In terms of craft and gardening projects I really suck at ever finishing anything. A project might take me two to three years to do.

[Carrie12345]

6 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I think it’s too hard to narrow down what counts as project versus what counts as life and also it really depends what else is going on at the time.  Does learning Italian count as a project or routine thing?  Getting a certificate? I have two kinds of work - one is contract and sporadic and the other is regular and routine but it doesn’t make much sense to separate the two. In terms of craft and gardening projects I really suck at ever finishing anything. A project might take me two to three years to do.

I agree that it’s kinda... fuzzy, and will probably look different to each person. The best I could do was shoot for “non-routine”. For me, working on a foreign language was a part of my daily routine a while back. Now it’s something I’d need to carve out time for if I want to refresh a bit, since it’s former slot got swallowed up. KWIM? So it’s not a project that I’m currently working on, but hope to make it a regular habit again one day.

[Carrie12345]

8 hours ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

Move projects are their own category that's basically a tornado of crazy.  It's an avalanche of projects that all have to get done in in specific order and on certain time frames. Our To Do List for our cross country move 3 years ago was many single spaced, type written pages long.

OK, so is there anything at all on your list that your kids can do?  I would consider power washing to be a tween-teen job involving being checked on when the kid thinks they're done.

Do you have older kids who can pack and load boxes into pods? Do touch up paint?

Can you buy processed frozen meals and assign a kid the job to reading directions, setting the oven temp, and putting it in? Buy some bagged salad and BOOM! dinner.

Can you maybe cut back to just math, reading a great book, and watching quality science videos documentaries for a couple of hours a day then they help you with other things for a while and dive back in deep full time after the move.  Maybe add some extra school next summer to make up for it if needed?

Can the kids make their Christmas lists (top 2-3 most wanted things) and you buy just those and have them wrapped online (Amazon offers wrapping) and be done with it? Or buy decorative bags and BOOM! Christmas presents wrapped. Maybe get one surprise family gift in addition that will be a surprise if surprises matter to you?
 

You know, part of my paralysis could very well be because of the shifts in our household.  Ds moved out of state just a few years ago. Dd moved out of town (and works nights) what feels like yesterday. 2nd dd has gone from near lockdown to working almost full time and studying. And I am still working on adapting to not seeing the “little boys” as... little boys, lol. I don’t have as many “trained” hands as I had gotten used to.

I did have the boys moving boxes yesterday, which was a big help! They don’t cook as much as the big kids did at their ages, but they each have a couple of... occasionally acceptable meals in their repertoires. And I have been stocking the freezers with meals, some of which they could probably manage if I write out the instructions. (My 14yo is afraid of the oven 😱.)

I’m very conflicted with school stuff. On one hand, I think this situation is exactly what homeschooling is perfect for. Pull back, go hard later. But we pulled back so much/so long with COVID that it feels wrong to keep “skimping”.  
(Though they’ve both made huge gains in math, since that’s been given so much focus!)

On our next nice day, I bet the boys could shop vac my car. That’s a project that doesn’t exactly move things forward, but it would make me a lot less grouchy every time I get in it!

[Ausmumof3]

3 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

I agree that it’s kinda... fuzzy, and will probably look different to each person. The best I could do was shoot for “non-routine”. For me, working on a foreign language was a part of my daily routine a while back. Now it’s something I’d need to carve out time for if I want to refresh a bit, since it’s former slot got swallowed up. KWIM? So it’s not a project that I’m currently working on, but hope to make it a regular habit again one day.

I think one reason I’m finding it hard to quantify is it depends what the daily routine is like.  At the moment the daily stuff I kind of maxed so nothing extra gets added.  I do still tackle projects like dealing with fresh produce but it probably means something else gets missed.

[fairfarmhand]

Long term projects like a summer garden and teaching/developing a class….2-3. 
 

short term projects like painting, cleaning closets, organizing the garage…one at a time.

 

I hate unfinished projects but the long term ones just take weeks or months to pay out, if i can work at my own pace, I want that thing done!
 

[TexasProud]

Tons and tons and tons. I get bored if I do not have something to do.

[Murphy101]

One.

I keep a 2 page list of projects to get to. I tackle one at a time as money or necessity require.

[Carrie12345]

8 hours ago, TexasProud said:

Tons and tons and tons. I get bored if I do not have something to do.

Kind of a tangent, but I’ve always wondered if we all have different ideas of what “bored” is. Because I don’t think I’ve been bored since 1995 and, even then, I just mean disinterested during class in high school.  Since then, I’m either doing something, or I’m resting. And, even when I’m resting, I tend to be doing *something unless I’m literally asleep.  I don’t know if that’s an adhd thing, a me thing, or just different ways of looking at a word.

Anyway, I tried to trick myself yesterday. I put fewer things on my to do list and got almost every single one done. It gave a nice little boost of happy chemicals. That won’t get me far in the long run, but maybe it can be enough to interrupt my frustration here and there!

[TexasProud]

6 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Kind of a tangent, but I’ve always wondered if we all have different ideas of what “bored” is. Because I don’t think I’ve been bored since 1995 and, even then, I just mean disinterested during class in high school.  Since then, I’m either doing something, or I’m resting. And, even when I’m resting, I tend to be doing *something unless I’m literally asleep.  I don’t know if that’s an adhd thing, a me thing, or just different ways of looking at a word.

Anyway, I tried to trick myself yesterday. I put fewer things on my to do list and got almost every single one done. It gave a nice little boost of happy chemicals. That won’t get me far in the long run, but maybe it can be enough to interrupt my frustration here and there!

Well I don't know what you call that I feel almost every night then. But my brain is exhausted and my body is exhausted and I have nothing to do.

[Indigo Blue]

I’m a one thing at a time kind of person and a major list maker. 

I finally ditched all paper planners (including EC!). I figured out how to make Google Calendar work for me. Now that I’m used to it, I find that it works much better. 

I can click and drag a task to another day if it doesn’t get done today. There is a task bar on the side for non time sensitive tasks. All birthdays are plugged in permanently (on repeat) and infinitely, so I don’t have to remember to rewrite them every year and risk forgetting a birthday, which has happened. I put what’s for dinner in the calendar each week. I use color coding for different tasks. For example bills due and scheduled deposits are purple. Meals are yellow.  I keep the calendar minimized in my task bar all the time. It’s also in my phone and IPad so I can look at it anywhere and anytime. I’ll never have to buy another planner again. For business, I just set the iPad on my desk and open the calendar. Now I have a tax /business calendar and a month view for payroll. It doesn’t lie flat on my desk, taking up all the desk space. I can see the time, and I can play music or nature sounds. Beats any planner I’ve ever had, and I wish I had started using it years ago. 

I mark stuff off the calendar as it gets done, but I leave certain things in. For example, I leave vet and medical appointments in so I can reference them to see when so and so went to the dentist or to see when the cat’s last rabies vax was.

I don’t do well focusing on more than one thing at a time, but having good organization really helps. I like doing one thing to my satisfaction before moving on to the next, but I know it’s not realistic to expect it to always work out that way. 

[heartlikealion]

Right now probably too many. I need to finish curtains for my home (which in my case involves lining up the blackout panel and sewing it all together) among others. Before long I’ll be sewing Christmas gifts for the kids’ teachers and I don’t want to feel rushed. Worst case my ideas will be bumped to end of year gifts. 

I don’t tend to get bored much, either. I always have something I could be doing. If I’m exhausted I’m resting or watching a show. If I’m mentally energized I could read. If I’m physically & mentally energized I can sew or make one of my crafts. Right now I have 3 empty spaghetti sauce jars set aside to paint for Halloween decorations. I also occasionally film my projects for YouTube.