Small Pieces

Greetings. So what's new? Well, first of all- thank you to Chris for her encouraging comment on my blog from Monday. I was having a tough day and it was a help to read her nice words. Things are getting back- I don't have any fantastic news to report, but I'm back to working on the small pieces that lead to getting bigger things done. I have a larger goal with all my tasks, but if I focus on the big picture then it gets overwhelming very quickly. So I go back to what I have always done- break things into small pieces and take it one day at a time. Gradually, all the little pieces come together and progress gets made. It is a work life of baby steps, but that's how things get done. It also requires a lot of patience. I was thinking about things when I was driving to my monthly women's networking event tonight. Sometimes, dealing with work issues is like dealing with difficult personal issues. You can't focus on the big picture, you take things one day at a time- sometimes, just hour by hour. Even though I had my list this morning, I was starting to get overwhelmed (I think I need to write smaller lists), I looked at the clock on my computer and thought that I didn't need to worry about how much I got done by the end of the day, lets just focus on being productive for the next half hour. For the next couple of hours, I kept reminding myself that I just needed to think about being productive for the next half hour- I gradually fell into a good rhythm and got a lot done. I worked on a lot of tasks- following up with police departments, reaching out to new potential date auction sponsors, following up with people who signed up for the date auction, working on getting auction items, etc. I didn't get to grant writing which was on my list, but that is OK. I also have some emails that I need to respond to (what a surprise!). It really worked well for me today to not even think about the entire day- focusing instead on the smaller blocks of time and being productive for that specific time. I think I'm going to keep using this time management system. I have a red timer that I was supposed to use as part of the pomodoro time management system- you set the timer for half an hour, work very hard for the half hour, give yourself a less than 5 minute break, then back to work for the next half hour- it is actually close to what I was doing today.

I know this may sound a little trivial, but time management is such an important part of running a business. It is an important part of every job, but it becomes even more evident when you work by yourself and are completely responsible for every task that needs to be done. I've always been self motivated, but I can definitely get overwhelmed with enormity of what needs to be done and wreaks havoc with my getting through my to-do list. I'm happy with the system that I started today- I think it will be a big help in keeping me focused and not getting overwhelmed.

Well, that's it for tonight. I was on an office cleaning spree earlier and it is already after 1am. I'm going eat some yogurt and strawberries, then off to bed. Until next time friends...