It’s now 18 months or so since I left my permanent job and kind of retired. In that time I’ve worked on a couple of projects that paid money and am about to again soon. Mostly my time is my own in a way it never was before. Blogging is one of my main hobbies and I try to write most days. But without structure, it can become difficult to maintain productivity and then when some paid employment comes along it’s a challenge to do both.
I was listening to the latest Smutlancer podcast as I journeyed to my meeting yesterday. In it Kayla talks about having a morning (or whenever you need to get writing) routine. I was struck by how much I have tried to put structure into my day, where none previously existed. I’ve done this consciously over recent weeks because to be honest, my time management had slipped over the previous months. It became too easy to blog from the sofa or not. Plus, I had a whole list of things to do that I just kept moving forward in my 2019 planner. One of those was my divorce. It’s 6 months since I told my ex I would start proceedings and had done nothing. I had planned to update my blog, redesign it and make it more whizzy in time for the top 100. But I haven’t done that either. Last summer when I had paid work my blog was neglected. I don’t want that to happen again.
A new year is a good time for a new start
But only if you keep at it. So, new planner in hand I have begun to manage my time more effectively and get through my lists. I particularly love the structure and have created plans for the year and beyond as well as some week by week lists. This relates to personal stuff (the divorce), paid work (vanilla and sex blogging) and content creation for this and Food, Fitness and Health.
I know it is only 2/3 of the way through January but I am confident that I’m heading in the right direction.
Each week I look back at what I’ve achieved and think about how productive I’ve been and what habits I need to change. This also includes some health related stuff, which in turn is material for my health related blog. I’m finding that I want to write about much more than sex and kink (including posts like this). Whereas in the past I’d write nothing rather than something seemingly unrelated, I’ve changed my opinion. This in turn has released some of my creativity and I was delighted that this post was chosen as one of Cara’s picks in Elust. Plus I’ve written some fiction this month too.
Managing time going forward
I’m not convinced I’ve completely cracked the planning yet. My project plans, supplied in the planner need further fine tuning and also I need to think about how I’m going to review my goals at the end of each month. This will, I think help me stay on track. There’s also a finance element as well as productivity outcomes I’ve not completed yet. I was interested reading this post by Marie this morning, that she takes her planner to work with her and plans her work day in the same way as the rest of her life. This feels important to me, who will be returning (at least in part) to working. This time I want to be much more structured about how everything fits together.
The other thing I want to factor into my time is more exercise, adding more walks into my week. Currently I swim every week and walk to and from the pool. But I want to build an increasing amount of exercise in as I get fitter.
I’m sure I’ll return to this topic with an update later in the year.
Sounds to me like you’ve come up with a good plan, keep it up 🙂
Looks like you have a great system starting. I plan every Sunday for the week and then review every morning. It’s how I ensure I am focusing on my priorities and not letting them slip. Of course, it’s also about flexiability and being willing to change plans as needed.
I think you are on the right track here, planning your day. I also have to go back and review every week to see whether I have managed what I have planned. And if not, I have to adjust for the next week. I think it will be like this all year for all of us. You can never plan unexpected things..
And, I LOVE the look of that planner. Which one is it?
Rebel xox
PS: thanks for linking my post 🙂
“I know it is only 2/3 of the way through January but I am confident that I’m heading in the right direction.”
I think this says it all! Keeping mindful I think is a huge part of this process and you definitely have that going on!
You are definitely already far more organised than I . . . and even if you manage half of your goals I am sure it will be a great achievement.
Xxx – K
I tried using a planner last year. I had so many ideas for it. For the most part, it worked really well, but half way through I kind of forgot about it. I thought about getting a new one and trying one again this year, but money was tight and we chose to work on my blog instead. You are definitely heading in the right direction. The first step is taking a step. :p
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