Tag Archives: life

My Love/Hate Relationship with Productivity Tools

One of my goals for this next year of my life is to take Sundays completely off. So that means no computers, no cooking, no cleaning– just relaxing. But I’ll be the first to admit, it is going to be hard. We modern ladies are busy, right?!

And as a modern, busy lady, I am always on the lookout for new ways to help me to get things done. In March, I tried The Seinfeld Method aka Don’t Break the Chain. This tool has you making calendars for each of your tasks. Then, you have to do a task from each calendar each day in order to “not break the chain.” But understandably, I was exhausted from this method.

I had a blogging calendar taped to my fridge too, but I quickly saw doing something blogging related everyday was just too much for me.

This  month I’m trying something new. I’ve read that it helps some people to schedule all their time, so I’m trying that this month. I really don’t want to schedule my Saturday too.  But I might start if it looks like I’m not doing chores, like going grocery shopping, which I usually do on Sunday.

Here’s a glimpse at the schedule I made via Google Docs:

Now, this may look crazy to some of you. Hell, it looks a little crazy to me. But I’m already seeing cracks where I’m probably taking a bit to long at one task. And I really want a full day to lay around, hang out with George and relax.

Have you all ever gone to extreme measures to protect your free time? Do you use productivity tools? Which tools have worked for you and which didn’t work?! Let me know in the comments.

love,
melanie

Thankfulness

The view from a block from my house.
Picture by muah!

I have to admit, I’m not always the most thankful person. I always want more. It’s the perfectionist in me. Or consumer, if you want to be political. 😛

I want to live in a bigger city with more opportunities and exciting food. I want a better wardrobe. I want to travel. I want more free time. Want. Want. Want. Want. Want.

And although I think it is good to keep my eye on the prize and all those clichés, I also need to remember what I have. I live in a beautiful, historic town. I have a closet full of clothes. I’ve been all over the country. And I’m apparently making enough time to blog.

ANDDDDD something really exciting happened to me today. I won a grant! When I found out I literally skipped around the library. So that means I will be traveling to a conference in one of my favorite towns, Asheville, NC this weekend! I’m more excited and grateful than I have been in a long time.

How do you stay thankful?

love,
melanie