I tend to overcommit myself. It’s not intentional, it just happens. Sometimes I can get a little less sleep and compensate, other times I have to drop something.
I’ve noticed, as I started tracking my monthly goals, that extra things crept in because I felt bad. For example. the writing chapter needed moderators for classes that start the next day. Oh, sure I can cover. That means I was now taking three classes instead of the expected one. And since part of the moderator duties was to be engaged, I had to read the lessons and participate. Hello, extra work!
The other issue is everything takes far longer than I think it ought to. My plan for the day I was writing this post, was to finish a full draft on a short story, write a blog post, and do homework. This was to occur after cleaning the house, entertaining a five and seven year-old, going grocery shopping, and helping out a friend organize her house.
After all there ARE 24 hours in a day. 😉
I’ve come to realize that there is a sweet spot with setting my goals. I like mine to be set at holy-cats-you-are-crazy girl, which is just a touch less than rocking in the corner eating ice cream by the gallon level. This means that I do not have a lot of flex. If I add something to the list, I’m removing something else.
I recently watched James Clear’s CBS interview. If you haven’t subscribed to his newsletter, I’d recommend it.
What he said really struck me, make the things that are good easier to do and things that are bad harder to do, You need to add just a bit of friction so that it’s not just a reaction, it is a choice.
And so the feeling bad part that adds to my to-do list, I’m adding a wait time. If it’s not on my already bulging list, then I have to wait before agreeing. This means closing the email and marking it read. It means moving on to something else.
If I really want/need to do this new thing, it will bug me and I will find the email re-open it and commit to the project. If it doesn’t pop-up again, it wasn’t truly important to me. I still have the fear that I will miss something that I really ought to have done, but I’m going to keep trying.
What is it you do to set goals and keep yourself from rocking in the corner face covered in ice-cream?