It is always amazing to me just how much one can accomplish when time is short. This week has been one of the busiest weeks of my life. Add to that the pressure of handling all of the details one must attend to before leaving on a long trip, a couple of minor emergencies, some last minute shopping and you have a small glimpse of my day.
On top of all of the “normal stuff”, I’ve had to organize music, hold rehearsals and lead the worship team at my church for three extra events. Then there was volleyball camp which is in the next town, requiring a 30-minute trip there and a 30-minute trip back – not once – but twice a day. My schedule was packed and my todo list was overwhelming.
Fortunately for me, survival mode kicked in and before this week ever started I sat down with my calendar, my task list and an enormous bottle of green tea to plan the chaos called “my life”. It turns out with a little planning and a lot of pressure, things can get done right the first time – on time – and even ahead of schedule. I thought I’d share with you my “discoveries” for getting things done this week. I think I even amazed myself with the ingenuity of it all. Some of you may file this one under “too geeky for me” but I know there are others of you that know exactly what I am talking about.
First of all, I am writing this while sitting in the gym at my daughters’ school waiting for volleyball camp to finish. I have been getting a lot done during camp. Each session is an hour and a half long and it makes no sense to drive the half hour back home so I stay at the school and get as much done as I possibly can. There is NO wifi access at the school, so Internet tasks are out. At first I thought that would stink, but knowing that information in advance helped me to plan accordingly. I decided the time would best be used to do some uninterrupted drawing and during the first two sessions I was able to crank out one new Girls Can’t WHAT? Design which will be released tomorrow. Not only did I draw it, but I prepped all the images for promos and for the products. Everything will be uploaded tomorrow when I have extended access to the Internet.
Ah yes – access to the Internet. Managing that has been a challenge. As a web designer and site owner, I need to stay on top of my email. I have clients with emergencies and projects to manage – all of which require Internet access. I long ago learned which restaurants in town have wifi so I made use of that several times this week. For example, one evening while on a mad dash from volleyball camp to the church, I swung through our local Subway and while waiting in line I pulled out my palm and got caught up on my email. Today, intending to run errands after the first session, the kids and I stopped at Subway again. This time, I took in my laptop and replied to several emails, fixed a client’s login error and setup a conference call for later today during the half hour I will be driving back home. When time is short, it’s fascinating how much you can squeeze in when you have to get things done.
With wifi and computers, the next obvious issue to tackle was power. All of my gadgets require electricity. My phone and my palm are no problem – I am in the habit of recharging them every single night without fail. In fact, the charger stays next to my bed so I always have a visual reminder. The laptop was another issue. It would hold its charge for about 2 hours normally, but doing graphic intensive work would suck down the juice fast. I had two options. The obvious was to bring the A/C adapter, which I did. The other option was to plug the laptop into the cigarette lighter in my van and let it recharge while I was driving. With all the driving I have had to do this week, I had no choice but to make the most of it.
I could make a long list of the “little” things that helped me be productive, but the main point is this. I was so aware of the time being short that my brain was constantly planning ahead. When we stopped at the library, I had an exact order to get the books we needed and get out as quickly as possible. Rather than walking in and wandering aimlessly, I had a list for me and lists for the kids. We all found books to take on vacation and had them checked out in less than 30 minutes. Constantly looking ahead kept me focused and opportunities to maximize the time were instantly seized.
My week was not without mistakes, however. On the second night after session two of camp, I realized that I was not dressed appropriately for the upcoming service (I was wearing shorts) which forced me to make a pit stop between the school and the church to change clothes. A minor derailment of the schedule but I ended up only being five minutes late. Late is late in my book, though, so I feel bad about that. Luckily for me, no one else was there when I arrived so the only person who knew was the one person I called to tell say I’d be late.
While I am not enjoying the stress and the pressure at the moment, I know that it is not without a payoff. By the time I leave for vacation, I will have closed a lot of open loops. I will have finished at least 3 client projects, planned a vacation and reviewed my entire inventory of projects to ensure that everything is neatly in place and ready to be tackled when I return. I can leave for my vacation knowing I completed everything I need to complete by that date and that everything else can wait. Nothing will be hanging over my head or nagging at me. That is a good feeling.
Now that I’ve said all that, I’m scratching my head trying to figure out how I can apply this to my everyday not-so-pressured-to-have-it-all-done-before-I-leave life so that I can accomplish some of my goals a little faster. Hmm…I will ponder that and write more later. My laptop battery is at 50% and I have an interview to respond to at the moment. For now, I will save this as a text file and paste it into a post on my site when I get home tonight.
