Wednesday, January 12, 2011

An Endless Battle: Fighting Time

You’ve set your goals for the year, month, and week. Now you find yourself struggling to find the time to reach those goals. Now what?

Give up? Adjust your goals? Work harder? Giving up is not an option. Write that on a piece of paper and tape it to your computer monitor. Adjusting your goals is an option, but is it necessary?

Let’s take a quick look at my first week and a half. My week began on the 1st of the year, which was a Saturday. So, I’ve set my weekly goals from Saturday to Saturday.

I made great progress on my first three days. The fourth day, I had to work and developed a major headache. On the fifth day, I wrote for a couple of hours that morning, but found myself unusually tired and ended up sleeping most of the day away. The sixth day, my kitten was scratched in the eye and I had to take him to the vet. On that same day, my radiator developed a major leak and had to be replaced. Since the car couldn’t be moved anywhere, I took on the task myself. On the sixth day, I completed this task. On the seventh day, I made more writing progress. I was able to fit in a little writing each day and complete my goals for this first week, but it was tough.

The first day of the week, being a workday, I decided to take the day off. I made great progress on the next two days after the resting day. The third day, I had to take kittens to the vet to be neutered, and decided it was a good time to clean the house without them under my feet. In the mist of all this, my kitchen faucet decided to break, and yes it was up to me to fix it. Today, the fourth day, I worked and developed a major headache. I pushed through that and I am now fulfilling my blog post goal.

Do I need to adjust my goals? Not necessarily.

Most of the interruptions for the week were unusual. I was able to complete my goals that first week. Will I complete my goals this week? I will try but it’s not looking good. If you’ve had this much trouble with your first weeks in reaching your goal, give yourself a break. And don’t give up. Keep track of why you didn’t write that day. When you look back at the accomplishments also look at the interruptions. Adjust your goals if needed.

If you’ve missed writing because you had a television show on three nights that week and watched instead of writing, you may need to work harder.

But, in case you didn’t notice, look back at the sixth day of my first week. Don’t overdo it, because you’ll just miss out on a whole day's worth of writing.

How are you doing with your goals so far?

8 comments:

Cherie Reich said...

I hope the kitten that got scratched in the eye is doing better!

And, great post. My goals are pretty much on schedule, except for writing/rewriting three chapters a week in an old novel. The rewrites are going a little bit slower than expected, but that's okay. I'm aiming for quality over quantity.

Now, it's time to get back to work, though.

I hope the unexpected things calm down soon. That's a lot to have happen at the start of a new year!

Anonymous said...

Great post. I've had a few interruptions, but not letting them get in the way of my writing. Today is a catch-up day on reading emails and blog posts, as I had problems with my wireless mouse the past few days.

Terry W. Ervin II said...

There will always be interruptions, at least for me. No week for me is perfect or predictable (work, kids, life). Rather than fight time, I work with the time I have available.

Hang in there, Cher, and hope your weeks have fewer bumps as the year progresses.

Anonymous said...

Cherie,

The kitten, Tike, is doing much better.

Yes, it was a lot of unexpected things, but as I continued to move forward, with only a second of "I can't do this!", I feel I passed the test.

Good luck with your goals.

Anonymous said...

Terry, yes interruptions are to be expected, but that was a lot of unusal stuff to happen in just a matter of a week and a half. But, I made it through and am continuing forward.

Anonymous said...

Susanne,

Thanks. Yes, we just have to keep pushing forward.

Angelica Hart and Zi said...

Around here our goals are fluid. We expect the unexpected and simply go with it. Making up for loss in the nooks of another day, another week. We have discovered that by the end of the month, we're usually where we wish to be. Then again, we are also never satisfied and continue to strive for better.

Hope your kitten is better.

Anonymous said...

Angelica and Zi,

I'm hoping to get similar results at the end of the month. Kitten is doing great.

 
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