Just One More Thing (Not!)

Obviously I’ve not been posting again. Priorities shifted a bit, but mostly, I have “Just One More Thing” syndrome, which I didn’t really see as a problem until I was listening to a podcast the other day, and it called the problem out point blank.

I’m not a perfectionist by any means, but the podcast was talking about the most destructive habits of perfectionists, and one of them was always thinking you can do “one more thing”. Which is true sometimes, but often (and usually in my case), my perspective is warped, and I *think* I can fit in one more thing so I do, but it ends up throwing off my whole day, and putting me further behind than I would have been otherwise.

Time is finite. Minutes, hours and days don’t magically stretch, though I suspect we all wish they did on occasion. It *feels* shorter or longer depending on what we’re doing, but in the end, it’s only our perspective that changes, not time itself.

One of my biggest time management issues is that I might have a few minutes (even half an hour!) to squeeze something in, and maybe just “one more little thing” too, and soon enough, I realize that I’ve used every ounce of time available to me, and no longer have enough time left for the one (or two) things I really wanted to get done in the first place.

It would help if I didn’t try to fill every single little pocket of time during the day. I do that because there are far more things I’d like to get done each day than time to get them all done, but I live in hope that something magical will happen, time will stretch, and I will achieve all my goals…but that will only happen if I pare down my immediate goals for the day, and be realistic about leaving some time on the table. Things happen. Meetings run long, projects take longer than expected, interruptions occur.

Sleep also needs to occur, and I’m horrible about stealing sleep time for other things that are far more interesting (sleep is boring!). But as this body ages, it needs more recovery time, and I need to respect that and realize that I get more done the more rested I am. Whatever I was doing the night before, will still be waiting the next day. And patience is a virtue worth practicing.

So, my intention is to stop overfilling my days, and to be more mindful of leaving those bits of time that open up during the day unscheduled, rather than trying to fit “just one more thing” in. I don’t have to be productive or busy every single minute of every single day, and sometimes it’s good to just breathe and think.

It’s going to take a bit, because…well, I need to rethink how I schedule things (generally back to back to back, without much leeway). And I need to be more intentional with setting priorities. But I have time set aside nightly for planning out my next day, so it will just be a shift in my daily planning. The hardest part will be resisting the urge to pack more in when I see a free bit here and there.

I can do it, though. My theory is that if I keep a leaner schedule, and intentionally focus on getting those priorities done daily, I’ll actually accomplish more overall, and do a better job of it.

Secondary to that, I think I’ll be more content overall, because I won’t be failing to accomplish things so often. I will have to leave some things behind, but they’re things I either don’t get to now anyways, or things I think I *should* do, and keep trying to do, but never seem to get to.

It’s a big shift, and it’ll take awhile, but…I’m kind of excited to see what happens. I’ve been doing more writing/writing-related stuff lately, and I’m enjoying that, and I’d really like to continue moving more in that direction as I get closer to retirement from the day job.

After retirement, when I can move into full-time author work, I’ll be able to shift again, and add back some of the things I need to put on hold for now.

Are you someone who leaves space in your day, or are you a “just one more thing” kind of person?

Currently writing: Christmas Card story, Magpie Shiny (contemporary romance)

Currently editing: A Halloween story involving rock gnomes & Medusa (horror)

Currently reading: I just finished Why I Love Singlehood by Elisa Lorello and Sarah Girrell. It’s an interesting and thought-provoking take on personal contentment and romantic entanglements. Now I’m on to the book everyone else has already read, it seems, Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, which is quite entertaining so far.

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