Eating That Elephant

I just had this realization that I suspect the entire world other than me has already figured out, or known from birth, but I’m hoping for me it will help reduce my stress level significantly.

If you have been following me so far, you know I’m pretty organized (otherwise, with my poor memory, my life would fall apart). And you know that I like to plan ahead. And yet, I always seem to run out of time and not get to the important things that I need to do by a certain time. I’m often changing my underwear and quickly running a brush through my hair when I should have already left (and when I had planned to have enough time to shower, blowdry, and put on a bit of makeup).

So here’s my big realization. Something as old as, well, at least as old as Stephen Covey and he must be getting old by now…”Begin with the end in mind”. I knew this once, but somehow my tired old brain lost it (no surprise there!)

So what if, instead of writing this blog post or checking my email while estimating that — “sure I can get everything ready to go later – I have a whole 80 minutes! Come on! “– I actually did the most important things that have to be done on a deadline, first? What if I was proactive, but proactive working backwards, instead of forwards? Hmmm….I think I’ll go play around with it…what would that look like?

• Deciding what I need to bring, and getting it ready
• Feeding the family
• Getting dressed, eating
• Thinking about stuff I might want to get started for the week also
• Actually looking at my todo list
• NOT reading email
• NOT blissfully following internet ratholes like updating my LinkedIn contacts…

Well, we’ll see.  Perhaps it is just another one of those fleeting strategies that gets me excited for a while and then falls by the wayside.  But at least I can try to get a few days out of it.