Keeping On Top Of Things: What’s On My Plate?

It feels as though things have been getting away from me again lately. I’ve got fifteen days left to turn the stuff I’ve been writing about Heroes of the Storm into an eBook and a marketing strategy, and in the meantime there are podcast episodes to edit together, two more even episode live streams, family charging up from down south… When the heck am I going to get to do it all?!

Time management has, I think, been one of my main problems in doing the things I want to try my hand at – the feeling that I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to turn up at X time every day / week to put some work in.

Which begs the question: Just what, exactly is the “all” I need to find the time to do?

I’ve read in a few places that one of the things you need to do before you start organising yourself is collect as much information as possible on where you’re at, so that you can make intelligent decisions on what to work on, what to postpone and what to jettison.

So here is what, outside of my day job, is currently on my plate.

NOTE: Not every item will be fleshed out or else I’d be working on this damned post forever.

Vickie and Getting More Sane

This is the priority at the heart of it all. I’ve spent a good chunk of my life mired in worry and the self-perception that I don’t have anything that really matters going for me. I’m sick of it and, while I keep doing it, I want to do it a lot less.

• Vickie Time. As you’ll see, the list of things on my plate is pretty big and some of it is easy to get carried away with – much to my lady wife’s frustration. Making sure I spend time being present with her is the key to keeping my sanity.
• Routine: Meditation. Just focusing on breathing has been the best and so far only real way for me to become aware that what I’m feeling is a mood rather than a reality or truth. Carving out some guaranteed nothing-but-breathing time during the day would help.
• Routine: Exercise. They say that maintaining the body is a big part of maintaining your sanity. I do a fair bit of walking, but the upper body could always use more development. A few guaranteed minutes per day wouldn’t hurt.

Our Fur-Kids

Our woofers need a little more attention and exercise from me!

• Home Alone Training
• Routine: Massage

The Vege Bed and Eating

I’ve put these two together as they’re rather intertwined; I’m already getting pretty good with watering the veges after I get home from work, but there’s the whole turning-it-into-a-meal business (aide from salad).  Vickie does most of this at the moment, but we’re both wanting to make sure I can cook us a meal.

• Routine: Watering and Pruning. As written above, this is in a pretty good way. It helps that it’s a great little zen exercise where I can just stand and breathe.
• Making (Tasty) Food. Sure, maintaining the bed is fine, but I need to know when to pick the veges when they;re ready and what to do with them once picked.

Friends

Between work and housework, Vickie and I have few opportunities to catch up with folks whose company we enjoy. We’ve taken some steps to fix that, but again, spending time on it regularly would help!

• Boardgaming
• Get-Together Project 1
• Get-Together Project 2

The Garden

• Mowing / Whipper-Snipping
• Watering

Housework

• General Maintenance
• The Hallway. This has been on the to-do list for years. The hallway from our front room to our kitchen / dining room which runs between our bedroom and the spare / Brook’s room has needed a repaint as the original pint job didn’t adhere well to the existing wall material and flakes as soon as you look at it. Plus the doors and doorframes need a good sand-off and repaint.

Transport

As you Facebook followers know, The Foxy Lady broke down about a month ago. The local motor scooter experts reckon fixing her will cost over $300 plus parts, and even then there’s no guarantee the problem will be fixed / won’t recur. Plus the seat compartment lock is busted.

So, sadly, my days as a scooter commuter are over for the foreseeable future. The Lady is currently convalescing in our garage until we work out what to do with her (our next door neighbour wants a crack at getting her fixed).

• Scooter: Look up Gumtree or take to tip ($40)
• Car Pooling. It seems a waste for me to take the car into work when it’s just me, plus I’d like to leave it home for Vickie if she needs it. Public transport is too costly and time consuming (the bus schedule to and from Gordonvale sucks). So maybe I need to put the word out that I’d like to car pool. with anyone in the  Maybe a fun YouTube video would help?
• Vehicular Maintenance

Financial and Political Literacy

My knowledge / skill in both these areas could really use come improvement. I have a financial advisor who takes commission from organising my super / life insurance, but I’d really like to have some idea of what he’s advising me to do. I also want to be able to look myself in the mirror and know I voted to the best of my ability when polling day rolls around.

• Research
• Finding mentors

Voice Work

This is starting to gain some momentum, thanks to the fine folks at JourneyBirds’ Wonderland; plus, I’ve been putting the odd personal sample up myself lately. I feel like I can start getting behind this effort a bit more.

• JourneyBirds Projects
• Marketing / Networking

The Podcast

Good old Paid to Play! I’ve eased off on following up with potential guests lately; I’ve got enough episodes in the can to last me until December. As everyone’s going to be charging off for Chrismtas holidays, I’d better get a few more in the can to tide me over!

• Routine: Editing Episodes
• Routine: Patreon updates
• Routine: Following Up on Possible Guests
• Show Schedule
• Live Episodes

The Writing Project

As I wrote at the top of this post, the Heroes of the Storm project is due in a couple of weeks. Time I started looking at how to get it out into the world so people can pay for it!

• Reviewing written material
• Working out how to get checked / published

The Society

On the topic of writing, I’d like to get this here web log updated a bit more frequently and regularly, like once a week!

• Journal Time
• Writing Time

What are you doing?

What do you have on your plate at the moment? What would you keep, hold or cull?