Have ducks ever actually nibbled anyone to death? Check Snopes!

Which is to say that this weekend I was reflecting that one of my scheduling problems is that I frequently postpone the little things.
Not the serious things like mailing off my credit card statement or calling my Mum, but the little little things. Checking vacation plans. Removing the battery from my old Mac. Going over my CPR certification handbook (hopefully that will never turn out to be a big thing). Researching used cars (I may have to make a purchase sometime soon).
For years, little stuff like this (along with more serious tasks mailing off credit cards, shredding preapproved card applications and paying utility bills) just accumulated until I had a ton of it. Then I instituted a habit of spending 30 minutes taking care of that stuff every day when I got home; if I didn’t have stuff, I stopped off to buy food (Publix was right on the way home) or cooked or cleaned.
As my schedule got more and more stressed during the end of my time in Fort Walton Beach, that faded away. When I moved up here, as I was working from home, I didn’t revive the practice. And sure enough, little things are starting to pile up. For a while I tried just leaving them until the weekend, but it doesn’t work so well. My inclination is to push them off until after I’ve read/watched a movie/walked with TYG and sometimes they don’t get done at all.
So I’m going to try reviving my old habit and tackle at least one of them every day. Or most days (nights I’m cooking, I often don’t have that much time after work/before evening work begins). Today, for example, I settled on the topic for my speech at a Mensa gathering next spring, and I mailed off one of the newsletters I send to my friends, both overdue. Tomorrow I’ll check Thanksgiving vacation plans.
The same applies to cleaning. A little bit a day won’t make me June Cleaver but it will keep our house at least reasonably functional.
And the ducks will hopefully go hungry.
Another thought that hit me this weekend is that I have forgotten to take breaks. As I’m sure I’ve blogged about before (but I don’t want to take the time to find it), I work better if I break for lunch, then for dinner rather than trying to work through and wrap up early. But lately I’ve been ignoring that truth to try and get everything done before TYG gets home. Even if I do, it doesn’t usually leave me feeling very relaxed.
So, regular breaks. Plus some sort of formal marker to emphasize it. A cup of chai. A little meditation maybe. Sitting outside on the deck when practical, though that’s not the case just now (quitting time is mosquito time, and after that it’ll be getting cold).
I’m also trying to cut my eHow time to a consistent 55 minutes instead of an hour. In a day with six articles, that would save me 30 minutes, which I could then use to proof and submit them. Not a huge difference, but it would be quite nice (haven’t managed it in a while, though).
Still, the breaks and the little tasks (and cleaning) alone, slight changes though they are, will keep me feeling a lot more refreshed, I think.