Life Muses by Ro

30 Days to a NEW Life: Batch small tasks

Last month, my 30 day goal was to stop multi-tasking. While I am not perfect at it yet, I have made so much progress that June was one of the most productive months I have had in years. I allowed myself to fully concentrate at the task at hand. If I thought of something I needed to do while working on a project, I wrote it on my to-do list. This was a big step forward because I had problems with feeling I needed to do things as soon as they occurred to me. (I’m a little obsessive sometimes.)

No wonder I felt chained to my computer! I can always think of things to do.

I used to believe that the ability to multi-task was a talent. I believe I’ve even listed it as a skill on a resume or two.

Wrong.

Now, I believe that multi-tasking is one of the banes of society. Multi-tasking prevents you from completely enjoying anything. Your brain splits into pieces and you aren’t present.

• You don’t enjoy food.
• You don’t enjoy reading.
• You don’t enjoy scrapbooking.
• You don’t enjoy writing.
• You don’t enjoy talking to people.

Everything feels like a chore!

THIS MONTH’S GOAL: Batching small tasks

The theory behind this goal is that it is easier to batch similar tasks and do them at the same time because your brain doesn’t have to shift around. For example, it is far easier for me to connect with people via social media (Twitter, Facebook, the ScrapGirls Messageboard) in a single clump of time, because I am in the mode of talking to people. But if I talk to people when I am working on a project, not only do I lose track of where I was, I tend to get lost in conversations. I also end up wasting a lot of time. Social media becomes a method of procrastination.

However, if I “clump” my social media fun in a couple of batches per day, not only do I enjoy myself more while I am checking the various sites out, I feel like I’m being rewarded for good behavior!

Here are some tasks that can be batched:

• Phone calls
• Paying bills
• Cleaning out email and paper inboxes
• Errands
• Planning
• Organizing
• Backing-up
• Filing

So how are you guys doing? Have you tried taking on 30 day goals yet? Making any progress?

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If you are not sure what this 30 day goal process is, you can read more about it here. But basically, the idea is that if you only work on one goal at a time, you are far more likely to achieve it. Over time, the progress adds up.

I’ve been doing it since January. It works!

Technorati Tags: self-improvement,tasks,batching,managing time,goals

30 Days to a NEW LIFE: Still working on email

I have been working on this goal since January. It is now May. Four months. Who would think I would work on a single goal for FOUR months.

Good news, though. I'm making significant progress. While I haven't achieved my goal of only checking email 2X a day, I am moving closer and closer.

You know what has made me turn the corner?  The B{U} project. Working on it is shaking cobwebs out of my brain and I am starting to understand the motivations, fears, and fantasies behind my actions.

I now know that I haven't achieved my email goal yet because I am afraid. I am afraid that if I do not check email all day long, my world will blow up. People will be mad at me. Crisis' will occur and I won't know about them so that I can fix them.

Ah. So that is what the anxious feeling I get when I close my email window is? Fear? Ah.

In my defense, I have improved... sometimes. But the break-through I told you about on Monday in the B{U} project update post has blasted something out of my head. I think I am going to be able to do it. I feel like I can conquer the beast.

Overcoming email addiction is like overcoming ANY addiction. The primary symptom of email addiction is constantly being on the edge of your seat, wanting to respond lightning-fast to everyone's emails in some crazy attempt to prove to the world that you are a reliable person.

It is pride. I tell you. My addiction is rooted in pride.

My email addiction started when I worked at Novell. I received praise for responding to emails so quickly. I liked the praise. I kept doing answering emails immediately. Then I started Scrap Girls and found that I received praise from customers and team members for responding so quickly. I liked it. I kept doing it. (By the way, I love helping customers fast and it is a policy we have at Scrap Girls not to make you wait any longer than necessary. But this policy of customer satisfaction added fuel to my fire.)

My life got busier and busier and busier and before I knew it, I had become a full-fledged email addict. I probably wouldn't have realized that I am an addict if the increasing load I carry didn't require a shift.  (I have handed everything I possibly can to Angie. Bless her soul. She saves my life.) I started working on this 30 Days project to try to help me shift.

I am now standing up and saying out loud, to anyone who wants to listen, "My name is Rozanne. I am an email addict. And I am giving it up for productivity and calm. I will still answer your emails. I will never stop doing that. But if you don't hear back from me immediately, you will know why."

See ya on the other side of addiction.

I seriously hope that I can pick a different goal next month. But if not, I am NOT going to give up until I have this beast conquered!

(By the way, I actually ENJOY my email now that I am checking it less. I am READING the the newsletters I have signed up for, because I am in my EMAIL mode. I am thinking about what I am saying more and am writing shorter, more concise responses. Why didn't I do this before?)

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How are you guys doing on your goals? Did you forget? No worries, if you did. Just start again. Look at me for proof that it's okay to keep trying. Or stop and start again.

30 Days to a NEW LIFE - March 4 (Checking eMail - AGAIN)

I'm going to come right out and admit it; I was a complete and utter failure at this one. What's worse, I fell off my clean Inbox tower for a few days recently because I became worried about how often I am checking the email.

This one is a bigger distraction to my life that I realized. A side benefit of trying to do it is that I learned that I check email as a method of procrastion. It keeps me from doing what I should be doing a great deal of the time.

I was upstairs praying about anything and everything, feeling like my head was going to explode, when I realized that my Inbox was full again. My mind felt like my Inbox and my desk looks. Yes, it is cluttered because I let everything fall about during the last few days. I hate that.

Anyway, as I'm praying, my Inbox starts to bother me. I ran straight down here, cleaned it out and sighed with relief. At least ONE thing can be clean. We'll completely forget about the fact that the majority of those items are now on my task list, which is huge, but hey... they were on it anyway. Now, I'm facing facts.

So I am confessing to you now: I failed this time around. I need to confess to you that it was a complete bust so that I can start again, fresh.

I'm not giving up on my goal. I have a plan, Stan.

I have two computers in this office, right? The one behind me is my old desktop  and while it is too slow to to much, I can use it to check email. This means that I will physically have to get up and move across the room to check my email. I'll either slow down the checking-thing or I'll lose a bunch of weight from the exercise. Either option is good.

I'll start tomorrow.

30 Days to a NEW LIFE - February 10 (Checking eMail)

For the last thirty days, I've worked on the goal of keeping my Inboxes clean (both eMail and snail mail). I've done pretty well! I've been either deleting, archiving, or putting the items on my task list. I've been taking care of the mail as soon as I get it. I do have to admit that I take a gigantic breath when I face a stack of mail like this. But it is good to get it off of my mind. Otherwise, it sits and looks at me, making me feel guilty.

I just need to remember to check my task list regularly and select some for knocking off. (I tend to forget!)

This was a good goal, though. I highly recommend it. It has kept me from feeling quite as frazzled.

I've chosen my new 30-day goal. This one going to be hard because it is very problematic to me. (Gulp) I am only going to allow myself to check my email three times a day. (Gulp)

I've noticed that once I start check my email, I check and re-check and check again and before I know it, I'm tired and my brain feels like it's in a stupor. I'm not getting to my big projects. So I'm going to look at it first thing in the morning (so I can relax without worrying that there is a crisis that needs attending to), close the tab and then stay off of email until (gulp) 1:00 p.m.. I'll check it again at 4:00 p.m. (gulp)

This is going to be difficult. I'm an email addict. I suspect there are a lot of us out there. I think we need EAA meetings (email anonymous). We could chat about it in email strings (not).

I tried to achieve this goal after I went to Arizona in August. I failed. But this time, I'm going to talk about it in public. I think it will help me because knowing I had told you about my last goal, kept me going.

Public declarations are more powerful than we realize.

So how are you guys coming along with your goals? If you haven't achieved them, that's okay. Just recognize it, get back up, and try again. But please, just work on one goal at a time. Don't set yourself up for failure!

How to change your life in 30-day chunks. 30 Days to a NEW LIFE check-in (01/28/09)

How are you guys doing with this challenge? Did you try it yet? If not, I'd like to challenge you to try it again and then, if you'd like, share your goal with us. There is something about stating it in public that seems to be quite powerful. I'm amazed at how powerful it is, actually.

Midnight Inbox by cdevroe at flickr.com

So my report: I've been working on keeping my Inboxes clean for 18 days now. Every time I've been tempted to slip up, I think about you guys and that I need to report back to you. It's really helped a lot. I only have ONE email sitting in my Inbox right now. It's from Erica Hite. (I asked her the name of the luscious chocolate she sent me a couple of years ago and she sent back a link. Yummers.)

I've been making decisions about what to do with email and snail mail when I receive new items. I either put them on my to-do list, I delete them, or I archive them. I've also been making myself put due dates on my task list items - realistic ones. It has relieved a lot of pressure from me to realize that I don't have to do everything at once.

I'm excited to start my new habit. I would like to start it now, but since I am trying this 30 day thing and because I want to get my Inbox habit set in stone, I'm going to resist. I already know what I want to do next, but I'll tell you later.

As a review - here's how 30 Days to a NEW LIFE works:

• Pick one thing that you want to change or improve. Trying to change too much at once almost always dooms you to failure.
• Make the goal relatively small. Perhaps, you want to eat breakfast every morning. Perhaps, you want to make your bed consistently. Or perhaps, you want to keep your in-box clean!
• Make a plan and some rules achieving your goal. (Example: I pre-determined what actions I would take as my Inbox received new items. I don't have to think about the plan as I work.)
• Tell someone about your goal and share your plan. This increases the likelihood that you will be successful because you will feel accountable.

Talk to you later!