Wow. This is the first time in probably six months I’ve actually had month-goals to review. So that’s a good feeling.
The performance? Not so good. Despite scaling things down so that my goals were hopefully attainable with my caring-for-dogs schedule (after dogsitting them so much while I was at Mum’s, TYG says she can understand why I say they make it hard to get things done), I only managed 39 percent. Of course, a number of those were very close: one more story submitted, one more freelance job query sent out, and I’d have knocked two more off. And some were only thwarted because of the trip to Mum.
That said, even with the trip I should have done more. If I hadn’t been so thrown by the plumbing/dog puking emergencies of a couple of weeks back, for instance, I’d have gotten my full slate of movies for the month. Of course, nobody can prepare for all emergencies except fictional characters like Phileas Fogg or the Mad Thinker, but with my time so constrained, I have to do a better job. Probably make a real push to get stuff done ahead of time if I know there’s a dental (or whatever) appointment coming up (which still won’t help when something springs up out of the blue.
On the plus side, I did get all my fiction writing done … but that, of course, makes me feel three hours fiction a week isn’t enough. It’s the most I can manage for the moment, though if I can expand on it, I certainly will.
Lessons learned? First, I can structure my time and get stuff done, despite the dogs (particularly when TYG can stay home an extra hour or two to supervise).
Second, it’s still damn difficult. If Trixie wants to play or Plushie starts barking for attention, ignoring them is not easy.
Third, I really need to structure my time to deal with the little household crap better. And stuff for Mum, etc., etc. What happens a lot of times is that I let it build up until the weekend, then spend hours taking care of it when I’d really like to crash. Or I let it suck up work time. So this week, I’m trying to build it into my schedule.
Fourth, I need to get back to taking breaks. What passes for breaks during the work day of late are times I’m playing with the dogs or holding Trixie so TYG can get Plushie out the door, or talking about the dogs … I need to actually take breaks. They my have to be set up to take care of those little tasks in the preceding paragraph, but that would hopefully let me freshen up my mind before plunging back into work.
Fifth, take pride in the stuff I do get accomplished.
Sixth, make a clear break when the day is done. If I can just relax and play with the dogs, or cook or whatever without feeling I should be doing something, the evening will be a lot lighter.
We’ll see how all that plays out in February.
