Priorities

Do you ever take on too much and end up feeling like you haven’t accomplished anything? If so, you are not alone.

From time to time I decide to start a whole list of projects or volunteer to make a bunch of stuff and it usually all happens to need to be done at the same time. I don’t know if I am unconsciously sabotaging myself or if it is just part of my nature to say yes to things I want to do, but either way I made the commitment to complete the tasks and one way or another I will.

What I find that helps in situations where there is so much to do is make a list for each project and a timeline to complete them by. Time management has never really been a strongpoint for me but if I list what needs to be done and by when it makes it easier to complete. Of course, I also have to be realistic on my deadlines too. If I have out-of-town guests, will only be home for a short period the night before two cake orders are due and a softball game and birthday party at the same time, there’s a pretty good chance something isn’t going to go according to plan. This is when making priorities comes into play.

First of all, business takes first priority. To make the orders go by smoothly, anything that can be done ahead of time I have to do ahead of time. In the case of one order it is fortunately only plain cupcakes for a build-your-own cupcake bar, and the other is for three-year-old twins’s birthday party for which they have a specific theme. Also fortunately the decorations can be made well in advance and placed onto their cakes and cupcakes, which basically means I have to only really account for baking the cupcakes and frosting one order before placing the decorations on. Simple enough with a little foresight and a good list to go off of.

Next will be the out-of-town guests, for which the house will need to be cleaned. Again, a checklist helps here, and not just any checklist but a prioritized list. What this will do is make sure that I clean the major stuff first, and if the little things don’t get done I can live with that. Think about it. If you clean the bathroom but don’t clean the office are you really going to be embarrassed? Now reverse the scenarios. Hopefully you get the picture.

Now with a softball game and a birthday party to go to at the same time, which should take priority? Unfortunately this is where I have to go with whichever one was scheduled first, and in this case it was the game. Of course, with the amount of players we’ve had turn out for practice we may not even be able to play. But if we show up for the game and only play catch and hit the ball around a few times, we may still be able to make it to the latter portion of the birthday party.

I like to simply handwrite my lists in a notebook, but it may be easier to type them out on the computer and print it out so that you can move the priorities to the top. Most of the time I put a star in front of the items to identify them as priorities. Also to keep things as simple as possible I will group like items together. For example, when the time comes to clean the windows, I do them all at the same time. I’ve already got the supplies out. Same thing goes for dusting and vacuuming. By grouping like items I streamline the process and am able to cross off multiple portions of the list, which makes me feel like I accomplished something and helps to alleviate stress and prevent Freak-out Mode from setting in.