Good morning! Time is of the essence as I juggle multiple projects for deadlines that are coming up at the end of the month. In my characteristic overly optimistic way, K and I planned some fun outfits for me to sew up for her this weekend, and of course, by late Saturday evening it was obvious the outfits weren’t going to happen.
My harried state of being was abundantly evident on that same Saturday evening when K, her friend and I swooped into the theater parking area (we had tickets for Robinhood, if you recall) with 9 minutes to spare. I’d just negotiated a labyrinthine series of construction roadblocks which made a normally 10-minute drive into a crazed, 35-minute one. Fortunately, I’m freakishly paranoid about being late for anything and always leave excessively early. I cut off the engine and frantically fished through my bag for my wallet to insert my debit card into the parking meter. Nothing. No wallet! I’d left it at home. This is something so rare, K gasped.
“We’ll have to miss the play,” I announced gravely. I had no money to pay for parking, no ID to show for the will-call tickets. 8 minutes until showtime.
The girls were crestfallen, and it’s amazing how the brain kicks in when faced with two stricken-looking tweens. I restarted the car, zoomed into the nearby grocery store parking lot — conveniently located roughly two blocks from the theater — and the three of us hauled ourselves at breakneck speed toward the will-call window. The women behind the glass didn’t even ask for my identification and placed the tickets into my sweaty palms. I glanced at the clock: 1 minute until showtime!
Robinhood was awesome. It had a bit of a contemporary twist to it (think disco music), and was full of humor and excellent performances. Note to self: I better go back to that grocery store and buy a ton of food – I’m feeling guilty about parking not-so-legally.
For spring break last week, I tried really hard to focus on K and spending time with her; I also tried desperately to find small pockets of time to hustle on work-related tasks when she was happily occupied with friends, but those were hard to come by. Though I felt good about prioritizing family time, I’ve been tamping down my mounting distress that other things are not getting done. Laundry? Psh. Cleaning? I wish dust farming existed, as I seem to excel at harvesting dust bunnies. As much as I love them, I’ve been cursing all those sound-bitey Ted Talks and books about organization and prioritization — I do think they help remind me about what’s important, but they’re useless when it comes to dealing with the uneasy feelings that come with choosing relationships over impending work deadlines and basic home maintenance.
Anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I may not be gracefully executing my projects, and I may be throwing out a cop-out post offering up a hardly worn garment for a giveaway (and it’s possible I’ll do this again next week), but childhood is fleeting and memory-making is priceless, no?
I’m not sure if anyone is going to want this pullover I made a while ago. It’s super stylish, I think, but it’s not animal print which is the singular most important criteria for K as we all know. So it’s up for grabs. It’s about a 5T in size and it’s not perfectly made, but I was pretty proud of figuring out what was one of the most complicated pocket instructions to date.
I’ve heard of pomodoro techniques, GTD, et al — but if you would like to enter the giveaway, I’d be delighted to know: what’s your most effective productivity or focusing techniques? Do you hide your phone/devices? Or conversely do you live and die by a particular app? Clearly, I need some help and love recommendations from folks.
The giveaway will be open until this Thursday, April 23rd and I’ll announce the winner on Friday. Do I need to mention that international entries are welcome at this point? Good luck!
P.S. Apparently there was some kind of technical glitch on Friday and people weren’t able to leave comments – sorry about that! It’s all fixed now, I believe.
This top is so cute, using stripes in different directions is on my list of things to try. My list is VERY long.
You may be surprised to learn that the single most effective productivity tool I have found came from you. I started using Evernote to make lists with check boxes for every day. There’s something about checking off those boxes, and then moving that list into the “Done” folder at the end of the day.
I include both big jobs and small things. Sometimes getting a few checked boxes quickly gives me some momentum to push through something bigger.
And meditating. Days I don’t make time for it tend to be a disaster in terms of productivity.
Please don’t enter me in the drawing. I love that top but there are no little people in my life that it would fit.
I have a confession… I bribe myself the way you would a small child 😛
I tell myself “Finish this task/part and then you can… (have a snack, check your facebook, walk to the corner store, open that letter, knit _ rows, whatever it is I would RATHER be doing lol) Then repeat for the next section!
Baking bread is also fabulous for this. I started doing this in university. When I was putting off a paper I would let myself procrastinate just long enough to mix up some bread. Then I would set the timer for the next rise and I would HAVE to go right to work because I only had _ amount of time until the timer went off. Repeat for each rising, cooking and cooling and you have productivity, built in breaks and fresh baked bread! 🙂
p.s. My daughter loves the top! It’s the opposite of pink and therefore almost perfect in her book. (Perfection would require Batman.)
I remember that top! AND I have a 5 year old who loves blue and white stripes (tho pink remains her favorite). I am mostly at peace with my unorganized self, and tend to deal with feeling overwhelmed by trying to pare down my responsibilities. When that doesn’t work, I try to get the biggest bang for my buck. Kitchen a disaster? Emptying the clean dishwasher will create flow. Set timer for 5 min– can I make a difference in such a small amount of time? Yes, absolutely. Later on I can fill it up again with dirty dishes, and wipe down the counters. I’ve also started giving the bathroom sink, mirror and toilet a quick wipe when my daughter’s having her bath. The bathroom isn’t all sparkling clean at the end, but it will do!
Yes, I do want that top. I love the style and fabric.
I am an effective time waster. I wait until the last minute until I must do it or fail completely, and then I bust a move to finish up some kind of botch job. Any help?
I also stay away from books or websites that tell me what to do. Or how to organize my life. I do not make lists. I do try to focus in why I want to do what I have to do. When I think of the reasons why I have decided to do certain things, I understand that these are the things I really want to do. It may be hard getting down to them. But, heck, that is all part of it.
I know that feeling of prioritizing family, but overwhelmed by the state of daily affairs. It’s such a tough balance. When my house is a disaster I feel uneasy and discontent. But, I do want my family to enjoy time together. What I do when I need to work is set goals so that I know when I’ve accomplished something. Instead of the vague goal of cleaning the house and then I’ll do something fun with my daughter, I’ll say I’m going to clean the bathrooms and then read 2 books. By doing that, she is getting attention paid to her and progress is easily judged by both of us. I’m no expert, though. (and, she is a 5T right now, and would love the shirt)
That’s beautiful! I’d love to enter.
My best productivity technique is rewarding myself. I save great podcasts to listen to while I sew or clean (both things that I don’t totally love doing but LOVE having done).
I don’t have a lot of free time, so I tend to include my 3 year old daughter in my cleaning and cooking — I consider that family time. 🙂
Not entering the giveaway since I have no little person to give it too. But your discussion on productivity is very interesting. Because of your recommendation I bought Marie Kondo’s book and reorganized my whole house. It’s not as much work as it sounds because I keep moving countries so obviously I can’t own THAT much stuff. Still, I scared myself out. I do own a lot of stuff. Anyway, organizing/purging did help a lot with my productivity. I forget less things (I still forget things though). On the home chores, I have 0 advice because I have full-time help (lucky lucky me!!). I do believe that my irrational hate of cockroaches help though!
Other than that, I’m not big on productivity tools, I tried a few and I feel you spend a lot of time maintaining the system. Time you could spend actually doing stuff. Two things that I can’t live without though is i/emptying my email boxes as I deal with my email (the one you sent me today is waiting for me…) and ii/ having access to all my files all the time (in the cloud).
My almost five year old says she will wear it to school next year. It looks like something I’d sew for her.
I find it hard to be productive when there is a mess, so I have to spend time cleaning before I can get work done around the house. Right now I’m trying to get rid of stuff so that there is less to clean up, but it also feels like an excuse for not being more productive.
Sanae I love that top! I think I even pinned a picture of it from the original post…so adorable! I would love to win it for my little person.
As far as productivity goes, I find that if I can just get myself to start I am good. Starting is always the hardest part for me, especially with sewing since I currently have no set sewing space so I have to set up my machine and drag out all of my sewing paraphernalia Every. Single. Time. It sucks but I am working on a dedicated space which should exponentially increase my sewing productivity.
Oh love the top and have à 5 year old!
I make lists, paper and pen ones. It works for me most of the time. They look like mess, but they work. I also give myself deadlines, and that I must say used to work better, nowdays I give myself more slack. If something absolutely needs to get done I will do it. Kicking and screaming….
Sometimes simply setting a timer for 15 minutes and trying to tackle one item from my to do list works for me. Often I get on a roll and keep going but even if I don’t I can usually get a fair amount done in that short period of time. Also, having a schedule for house cleaning really helps me. Mondays I clean the bathrooms, Tuesdays (bi-weekly) I dust/vacuum the bedrooms, Wednesday/Thursday are for the rest of the house. Friday is a catch-up day and if I spend 20 min or so cleaning each day during the week then I am free on the weekends!
Cute!
My favourite productivity tool is Wunderlist. I keep multiple lists and even use it for supermarket shopping. You can nest list and add notes to specific items. Super helpful.
For me, I try to focus on the most important thing I need to get done for the day and do it first thing in the morning. That way it seems like I got something accomplished when everything else doesn’t get done. I also try to avoid having the TV turned on while accomplishing chores since it seems more of a distraction. For work, I try not to browse the internet (which is a big fail for me this morning) and shut down anything that would distract me and focus on the document I need to finish. I saw the comment about Evernote and may look into that to help me organize and focus. I used to be into lists but lately, my desk is covered in post it notes and I end up losing my lists.
Sadly, my tall 7 yr old would no longer fit into K’s lovely (blue! striped!) top, but I did want to say I think it’s so great that you’re blessing someone else with it! I’ve always thought that K has the best wardrobe around, and it’s so cool that someone else will now have an original Sanae product in their closet as well:) You have such a generous heart!
Hi Sanae, I have to agree with Lynn above. I need to make lists (physical ones) and then cross off the items I have accomplished. I started this in college when productivity was at an all time low and my friend told me about it. A sample college list would have been something like:
1. Wake up
2. Shower and dress
3. Buy a pack of cigarettes
4. Study the entire Psychology 101 textbook for the final tomorrow.
Hey, let’s face it, those cigarettes were going to be purchased with or without the list ( I’m so glad I don’t smoke anymore!) but I would feel a tiny, happy dopamine rush as I crossed off each item and I still make my lists today. I also try to accomplish as much as possible in the AM before the day wears me out.
The shirt is adorable and my almost 5 year old would love it! Also today is my birthday!
Thanks for the chance!
Happy birthday Claudette!!! I hope it was a wonderful one!