Confessions of an Organizer: I hated being early!

Once upon a time (and not as long ago as I'd like to admit) I was a girl who crammed as much as possible in my schedule as I could. If it could get done in 12 hours then by George, I was doing it! It took it's toll though. I soon found myself unable to keep up. One wrong turn, one misstep in my day, one slip in cat vomit (yes...yuk) and it would mean the house of cards I built for my scheduling would all come crashing down. It was stressful but I prided myself on being on time more but that was it. I was on time, speeding down the street, a horn-honking maniac between appointments with little time to spare. If I were meeting you at 10am, I'd be in your driveway at 9:59:59. Why be early? That few minutes I'd have sitting in your driveway I could be elsewhere scratching something else off my to-do list. But the stress was explosive and sometimes I cut it so close getting to appointments that I ended up being a few minutes late. The more stressed I was the worst the miscalculations got. I would feel awful as a professional organizer, it would feel hypocritical to be late on a regular basis.

One day I heard a fellow organizer and productivity consultant, Andrew Mellen, on one of his videos say: "productivity isn't about doing more, it's about doing less." For a millisecond I was perplexed. Then I got it. Then I had a light-bulb moment of my own. And slowly but surely, through self-interventions and careful thought, I started to set more boundaries. Especially boundaries with my time.  I stopped saying "yes" to a lot of things that before I would dive head first into because it needed to be done/no one else was willing or chomping at the bit/I could do it/I could do it well (or even better). Now, my first reaction to a voluntary duty would be "Let me think about that" or "Let me get back to you after I check my schedule."  Don't get me wrong it was not an overnight change.  I still have to mentally stuff a sock in my mouth sometimes to keep my foolish and impetuous volunteering hand from raising itself and flailing around excitedly in scheduling suicide. 

Priorities that are important to me and my life, started to take more of a front seat in my schedule.  I now do more things like exercise just about 5-6 times a week, I usually go to bed a decent hour. I go out into my Christian volunteer work during the week, and on average, I work less on the weekends then formerly.

I also don't fear being early anymore.  I use any "early" time to read, review my calendar, reply to an email or two, or make a quick phone call to a friend or family member that I hadn't spoken to in a while. I also started to delegate more and tweak systems in my own life that just weren't working as efficiently as I thought they should be.  I also space out my day much better.  Instead of cramming appointments 30 minutes apart, I now allow an hour (that was a huge difference). I'm cognizant of only allowing myself 3-4 to-dos a day and not 10-15.  Those to-dos that I think will only take me 30-60 minutes I budget 90 minutes for.  It allows time to breathe in between tasks, counteract and get back on track after interruptions (they will happen), and give time for being human like bathroom breaks & snack times.

And although my to-do list is actually growing rather than shrinking, I'm taking on projects that really enrich my life, my loved ones' lives, and my livelihood.  I've admittedly been feeling more at peace with my self, my life, and still I'm getting a lot more done.

I have read a ton of information on productivity and time management but it's like reading about how to roller skate and then actually doing it.  One is theory the other is application.  Somethings you have to learn as you do. You have to find your flow, your balance, and get to rolling.