Friday, September 13, 2013

Priorities, priorities

Everyone needs to prioritize daily, weekly, and monthly tasks.  Some do it well, while others rationalize and justify poor choices.  Many sites offer advice, such as making a to do list, then ordering tasks by importance.  Or ways to break down large projects so we can meet our deadlines.

Do we let our emotions, heart or mind rule our time management?  Do we ask for extensions and still scramble to finish because we've let, say, social or online activities trump work? 

Some days, projects just take longer than we anticipate, through no fault of our own.  Doctor appointments, meetings, film shoots then leave fewer hours in a day we can work.  For an actor, fitting in a haircut before a big audition or after a shoot (couldn't get it cut before because it had to be the same as at the callback) can take a chunk out of a day.  Or jobs or auditions can pop up or are rescheduled, taking priority over other things we'd planned.

Occasionally pressure to get stuff done competes with sleep or necessitates canceling or postponing social events.  I woke up before 4:00am this morning, mind already filled with time-sensitive tasks.  The satisfaction of checking many items off of my list before 9:00am tastes as good as morning coffee.  Perhaps I'll need more caffeine to stay awake to enjoy my evening...

LifeOrganizers.com
Time Management Guide
Mind Tools

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