02.22.10

Cutting out the mental clutter

Posted in Organization, Time management at 9:56 pm by Administrator

My book club meeting stressed me out this month. I hadn’t bothered to read the book, and I had deadlines for four assignments looming the next day. So, I bailed on the meeting. And it felt great. I had been so worried about getting everything done that a night out with friends from the neighborhood felt like more of a chore. It was a relief when I was able to back out of it.

That night, I realized that I need to cut back on my obligations. I’m a full-time graduate student and a part-time freelance writer, and those two activities consume huge chunks of my time, as you might imagine. To fill the few hours that aren’t dedicated to school or work, I need to choose carefully what is worthy of my attention and time. I feel awful that I have so many friends whom I haven’t seen in months, but it seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I decided I needed to create more time by cutting out the things that don’t really matter.

My email inbox seemed like a good place to start that initiative. It contained upwards of 600 unread messages when I started out. Their contents ranged from months-old blog posts to recipes that I could easily find through a Google search. I deleted all but six of those. I set up my gmail account to import emails from my other accounts, so now I can check all of my messages in one place. I unsubscribed to nearly every e-newsletter I was getting and set up my RSS feed to deliver blog posts in a single email each day. Then, something amazing happened. I actually started reading (well, more like speed-reading) those blogs that had just been sitting around in my inbox before. These are just baby steps, and I have a lot more to do, but any progress is good, right?

I highly recommend cutting your mental clutter. It’s surprising how much more productive you can be.

02.08.10

The great black hole known as the Internet

Posted in Time management at 6:47 pm by Administrator

The big snow has kept me mostly homebound for the past few days, so I should have been able to hunker down and knock off most, if not all, of my to-do list. But that hasn’t happened. Once again, I find that hours of my day seem to have disappeared into thin air.

I always set out with the best of intentions. In my mind, I block out chunks of time to devote to certain tasks, like researching a story or transcribing interview notes. Inevitably, though, temptations like Facebook and Twitter find a way to come between me and my work, and I can’t figure out why. Do I really gain anything from constant updates on the Farmville achievements of the guy who sat behind me in my high school French class?

If it’s not social media, it’s one of my three email accounts that lures my attention away. I can’t say that their offerings have much substance either. Why do I subscribe to all of these blog’s RSS feeds? I never get around to reading most of them anyway.

So, it seems that I need to get a better handle on my Internet a-…a-…addiction. There, I said it. Is anyone else with me on this? What have you tried to rein in your online habits? What has worked? What hasn’t? I’m up for any and all suggestions.

02.07.10

Welcome!

Posted in Uncategorized at 3:36 am by Administrator

I am a freelance writer, a grad student in social work, a resident of Pittsburgh, a wife, a cook, a runner, a yogi and much more. In my blog, I may write about any of those things. Or all of them. I hope you’ll enjoy my posts!