619 - I Have Been Behind For the Last 6 Months... Here's Why and What I Did About It
Organize 365 Podcast
Intro
In this chapter, the speaker discusses their experiences juggling a PhD program and home organization amidst unexpected life events. They highlight the necessity of maintaining systems and routines while adapting their planning strategies to navigate the complexities of life’s shifting demands.
By the end of this summer, I knew my trains were not running at full speed. But what had happened? How did I get off course? Even ultra productive people can have seasons that get the better of them. I can’t believe how much I accomplished in spite of feeling less productive. It was one of those seasons where one project led to another and no other area of life helped the situation.
2024: The Year of Overcommitting
It all started in February with Joey’s condo needing new plumbing, which led to the perfect time to redo his shower. Then Abby’s shower was suspected to have mold and that meant another bathroom remodel. And if we were opening that can of worms, then we wanted to add on an official bedroom for our giant toddler grandchild, Grayson. This kid needed a bigger bed and his own little apartment within his mom’s apartment. And while we were doing all of that, it just made sense to give Abby a proper kitchen, minus an oven. Which meant we needed to upgrade our electrical panel for the house. All these projects were supposed to be completed in time for Greg and I’s trip to Europe. But you know, permits and whatever, it kept getting delayed. So we decided to take care of all of Abby’s stuff when we got back. Who wants to be in contact with a contractor while on vacation? Not me!
And then there was school demanding more of my time. And a little extra pressure from my family. I had started to do school work at the office because “little baby Grayson” now knows that if my car is home, Lovie is home. And normally Greg wouldn’t care if I was not home because he’d be golfing. But due to shoulder surgery in December, he wasn’t playing golf. Needless to say, everyone was verbal about noticing I wasn’t home as much. I also may have had 3 classes this summer instead of 2 like I’d done in the past; I want to get through this PhD already! I like when my time is at my discretion. I had this productivity debt starting to accumulate and no time to make any of it up, even at work. I could not catch a break! And believe it or not, we decided to do a little something to our own kitchen, treat Grayson to a playground set for his birthday, which obviously meant a fence, but first we had to take down a shed and a tree. And I was so excited when WOW Window Boxes were at Homearama, we got one of those, too! Like, who am I coordinating all of these projects that normally would have taken me 4 years? It felt good to take some things off the “some day list.”
What I Did
I give myself credit for prioritizing tasks this whole time and knowing what can wait. And nightly planning of the most important tasks that need to be accomplished the next day. I exercised planned neglect, like eating out during the kitchen “remodeling” in my kitchen. And ruthlessly going through my calendar. And once you have survived one of these challenging seasons, the trick is to reflect and realize how much stronger you are because of it. Realize the lessons.
Blessings
Upon reflection of this season, I was overwhelmed with the amount of blessings this season provided. I’m very blessed in my life and that is not lost on me. These were all blessings slowing me down and it’s a season I’m happy to be coming out of so I can get back to being ultra productive.
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