I am soooooo guilty of this, especially when it comes to my blog and my projects. I have such grand ideas...a You Tube video podcast where I talk about crafting, an Etsy shop full of fabulous inventory (that doesn't get bought for some reason or another, even though everyone tells me I should do this, I've always been finding myself very disappointed at the end of a card season.), blogging fabulous content EVERY DAY.... Yes. I am one of those people... Heck, even the best craft designers don't even blog every day, even their design team members don't blog every day for them. I'm just a small town girl... ok... I've got Journey lyrics going through my head right now. My point is, I've got these huge expectations about what I want to do and life happens, I run out of funding, or I run out of inspiration. It's not self-sabotage either, I really mean to set out to do these things and my ADHD just... ohhhh a unicorn... See what I'm saying? Then I'm disappointed when 'time' is up and I haven't done what I've set out to do. Who puts up these time frames?
Social media these days is just BAM BAM BAM get it out there now or you're so last year. How can we get anything done we want to get done when we're glued to social media trying to stay abreast of the latest trends and news? Instagram, Twitter (although I don't think people are 'tweeting' as much as they used to, our current administration has kind of made Twitter a breeding ground for malcontents and twits in my opinion), and Pinterest... once you get sucked in to Pinterest just looking for one thing you blink and it's the middle of Sunday night and you have hairy pits and need a shower. Don't even get me started on Facebook. With all the groups you can join, games you can play (for which I do not and please for the LOVE OF PETE DO NOT REQUEST ME TO PLAY WORDS WITH FRIENDS!!!), and the messenger which once again DO NOT SEND ME CHAIN MESSAGES or video attachments of cute cats or animated unicorns.... I will say this once, then I will unfriend you and blacklist you for all eternity. Facebook has been great, don't get me wrong, I love keeping in touch will all my friends form school and the Navy and various church programs I am a part of, as well as meeting new friends through crafting groups... but it is a time vacuum.
So how do I attempt to manage my time and my social media? First of all I have to try to set realistic expectations for myself by planning out my crafting time, my blogging time (which also includes content research), social media time... oh yeah, and my life.... I have been a happy house frau since being medically 'retired' in 2008. You'd think I have all the time in the world... sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I don't have the responsibility of children, so that frees up a lot of my time, but I do have a house to manage (cleaning, tech support, social calendar for myself and my husband, meal planning and cooking). I also lead a women's group at my place of worship as well as working with the Emmaus and Chrysalis church programs in my community. Oh, and I actually do have a social life.
Over the past year I have been learning to manage my time better by using a planner. My planner of choice is the Carpe Diem A5 Planner. It has calendar inserts that you can purchase undated every year without having to buy a new planner binder. I love my new one that was gifted to me this year by a dear friend of mine, Kori Emerson, the fearless leader of the Utah Planner Pretties, it is the Ballerina Pink Reset Girl binder. Kori beautifully created a faith planner, and I added my regular life planner right into it, because the two go hand in hand for me. I also have a Recollections Goal Planner created by Michael's Stores that I use to track my blog posts. For keeping up with my ministry and church activities I use the 2017 faith edition of the Happy Planner called Grace Upon Grace. Three different planners, yes. One might find that a bit overwhelming, but trust me, I know women that have at least five going... but most of them have kids.
This is my planner and journaling stack.
Another great way of lassoing in my plans is making lists. Cori Spieker, 'The Reset' girl introduced me to the concept of 'listing' to better organize my ideas. This for me was an epiphany, and totally changed my approach to project management. From grocery lists, to packing lists there is also a great app in the Apple Store for iPhone's called Anylist which lets you create a variety of lists from templates or create your own design. You can access your account from your laptop as well as share it with your significant other if they have the app as well. This comes in really handy when creating grocery lists, or for my husband and I, our camping list. Another great program which is popular in the Android and Microsoft operating systems is Evernote. I just discovered this one yesterday.
So write it down, think it through (just don't over think it), and set reasonable goals and expectations for your projects.
Happy Thursday!!
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