How to Stop Wasting Time – an Editorial

Some days I put the kids to bed and head down to my office with an idea that I’m going to be super productive and crush a few goals (especially ones I’m lagging at and need to catch up) and I get distracted by any number of things. For instance “Oh, I should tidy my office before I start” or “let me check the social media or see which of my subscribed YouTube channels has an update” and before you know it it’s 11:00 and then I’m thinking “I can’t start anything now, its much too late”

Now, this isn’t every time.  Sometimes I fall asleep on the couch ‘catching the last few inning of the Yankee game’ and sometimes I do get a productive streak and end up getting a lot accomplished.

So, the idea is to try to figure out what’s going on during the productive streak and see if I can replicate it, bottle it, capture it somehow so I can ensure that I meet the goals I’ve set out for myself.

6 months into the year (4 months into the challenge) I’m making great progress in a lot of areas but lagging way behind in others.  The ‘Art’ one is a particular challenge. While I broadly included videos (in addition to sketching/painting) and I have plenty of ideas queued up I just can’t seem to get moving on it. I LIKE painting, drawing, editing videos, and other creative endeavors I just seem to find other things to do instead. I suspect I’m a bit frustrated with how rusty I am but that can’t be it.

One thing I think might be beneficial is scheduling specific times to work on specific things. For instance – Tuesday night is art night. I won’t do any other tasks on that day until I bring the art goal up to at least 50%.  Approaching things with a schedule might help be clear out the excuses but as with most things life tends take more priority sometimes (family time, work, things that need to be fixed around the house, etc.) Having it on the schedule should at least get me past the roadblock it currently is (and with a few hours I can work on multiple projects)

I’m going to work on a tight schedule for 60 days then check back in to see how it goes. I’m hoping it helps me bring all my goals up to at least 50% by the 6 months check in August 13th.