I’m a planner. So I woke up this morning before my alarm went off. I was thinking. I have a dilemma.
We’re having this baby in February. I work from home. Which is great in itself. In fact I feel very blessed to be in a position to work from home. My problem is that my work revolves around deadlines. Every company I work for has different goals and products that they want to get out and I manage my time based on what is due when.
I’m trying to get prepared – work-wise – for this baby. The advice I received from Heidi Swapp a few months ago, from one designer to another, was to make sure I paused once the baby was born to enjoy him. Even though I am my own boss, she said she wished she had taken more time away from work to enjoy those first few weeks especially.
Because we are doing the year long workshop at Big Picture Scrapbooking, it involves developing a great deal of content each month. And to make sure that the site is ready each month, I have to have content finished at least three months in advance all year. For example – January is due in two weeks, February is due by the end of October, etc.
Needless to say, I woke up feeling just a little overwhelmed. No wait…I had a much more realistic look at it than just overwhelmed – I really wonder if I can do it. This is a classic case of knowing that if I prepare myself in advance then I will be much, much happier later – but how do I get myself prepared? How do I tackle this set of tasks that seems a mile long over the next six months?
Here’s what I came up with while I was thinking it through in the morning’s early hours. I’ve decided that it’s a good set of 8 steps for anyone trying to tackle something big.
1. Make a Calendar List of Everything and When It’s Due. I have to get my due dates on paper so I know where I’m headed. I’m going to create a master calendar today and put everything on there until the end of January – no due dates in February to worry about except the most important one!
2. Break It Down. Once I know my due dates, I will break down each one into smaller tasks. Those will go on my calendar as well so I know week by week what has to get accomplished in order to chip away at the large deadlines. This also helps me organize the different companies I work for – I do best when I work on one project (such as the next $1 stamp set for Michaels), finish it then move onto the next task. I have to have a certain amount of time dedicated to each task to do that.
3. Gather Supplies. This applies to BPS – I will need to have project supplies on hand to accomplish each task so I don’t waste time waiting for things to come in the mail or heading to the scrapbook store every other day.
4. Get to Work. I know that I can organize till I’m blue in the face but it still won’t get the job done. I have to stay focused and get to work. If I put something off it will only make things harder to make up the next week.
5. Give Yourself Rewards. To keep myself from getting crabby, I will give myself rewards. If I accomplish one set of tasks then I get to go read a book or take the weekend off or spend the day with my sister…whatever comes up that I want to do that week. Something to work for instead of just the never-ending task list.
6. Adapt. Does anything ever go the exact way we think it will? Of course not. In that case, I am promising myself right now that I will choose flexibility instead of freaking out when bumps in the road come and I have to adjust my calendar to adapt to them.
7. Don’t Forget to Love the Moment. I think I’ve gotten better at this over the years. Even when I’m working hard I can still love what I’m doing and pause for moments here and there to chat with Jason or play Rock Band with him or call a friend. My experience will be more enriching if I embrace moments intermingled with the tasks.
8. Just Do Your Best. Discouragement paralyzes creativity so I have to remain positive about how I am doing. This is a mental control thing – I’ll pause, take a deep breath, and try to let go of those feelings of frustration and negativity, and focus on what I’m doing well.
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity. -Charles Mingus
Does anyone else have a plan to get something done?
Kolette – take a deep breath – you’ve got a LOT on your plate right now. You also KNOW you can do this.
It’s been awhile since I was pregnant (okay like 15 years), but I do remember this much – you feel great during your second trimester and tired as all get out during your third trimester. If at all possible as you are planning out work to meet those deadlines, plan to work yourself a bit harder and get AHEAD of the deadlines during your second trimester. Whatever needs to be turned in during February, March and April – try to have done before your bouncing baby boy arrives – because Heidi is right, you will want to have time to just hold him and stare at him and marvel at how beautiful he is.
I’m a past student of both Choosing Joy and Becoming More. I’ve just signed up for Giving Well. And I plan to sign up for a Life Well Created – just holding off right now for financial reasons, but will sign before the early bird deadline. I LOVE your classes, but as a student, the last thing I’d want is to know that you are stressing and missing time with your newborn to create lessons and projects – so accomplish what you can, drop whatever commitments you can that aren’t essential, and trust that your students will understand when the year long class gets started if you are just a bit preoccupied!
Cheri
your quote sums up everyday life in most cases for me. I have to stop, step back and breathe to see the forest for the trees. I am getting better at things, I just have to remember to practice. knowing that the ultimate goal for you is to be able to put work aside for awhile in february is the ultimate in motivation!
Kollette — I was a Creative Escape attendee and really enjoyed you and your husbund. Your positive attitude says it all — you are going to be great parents. I have 17 year old twins after many years of trying (we’ve been married for 26 years). My advice is to enjoy every moment, if someone offers help–take it!!! I was always the I’ll do it myself person–and I did , but there will be times when you will need help and you should take that help. For example, I was able to be home most of the first four years of my childrens lives, but every Wednesday we had a babysitter from 4 until 8–my husband and I could go out for dinner, shop or just have some quiet time to catch up on each other. I always loved Alexandra Stoddards books, especially “Living a Beautiful Life”. I loved the quotes and her perspective on an artful life and being positive. I just wanted to share my highlight this week–trying not to pay too much attention to our countries economic hard times has been a challenge. Personally the department store I have worked as a department manager for the last seven years is under liquidation–I have 4 more weeks of work any way —tough times…..back to the highlight. My daughter had a project to do for her English class–create your idea of Utopia. After class she told her teacher she understood the project, but she felt she didn’t have to create or imagine it–she was living it. She wanted to do a collage of pictures from her life that made her feel she was living in Utopia–NOW—-WOW!!!Talk about proud. Her pictures included her parents, her house, her brother in his drum major uniform, and her friends. I have to include this in my good book. I just wanted to share…and hope this helped. I know after many years of trying to get pregnant we got a lot of advice from friends, some of it was down right scary especially when they would talk about teenagers. I just wanted to let you know everything will be OK and as you already know a lot of life is your attitude and you both have such positive outlooks–you will be able to juggle a lot together.
It’s such a cliche’ but oh so true, THEY GROW UP TOO FAST!!! I only wish my 200lb 17-year old son was a baby and toddler again. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great person and a dream teenager but those baby/toddler years were too special – especially since I was “only” blessed (I mean that with the highest praise to God) with one child. My advice would be to do whatever you can now so you can hold and love your baby every available minute. A spoiled child is a loved child! Oh, it’s going to be soooo wonderful!
Kolette,
The one thing I did before I had each of my kids was to stock up on food and supplies. Although my church is renown for bringing in the meals (and they did) I had at least 4 weeks worth of ready made dinners in the freezer, homemade or good quality frozen. Plenty of my favorite healthy snacks, lunch and breakfast stuff. The last place I wanted to go with a newborn was the grocery store. For the last baby I also joined a grocery delivery service which was an absolute godsend as she was a high maintenance premie and I had 4 other kids to take care of.
The other thing I learned to do was to let people help me. People always used to ask if they could do anything for me, and I would say that I was fine. But when my friends had to get sneaky and steal my dirty laundry so that they could help me after a difficult c-section, I decided it was time to put my pride in my back pocket and let them reap the blessings for their service.
And remember that if you are down to your last pair of jeans, the baby WILL spit up on them. It’s is a fact. The last clean outfit is always a spit magnet.
Linda
Dear Kolette,
You are already embracing the balance of being a mom and working! It is hard, but I know that you will be amazing at both!!! I was so impressed with you at CE and you are truly ready for this! The best advice I can give you with having a new baby is when they sleep, you need to sleep too! I know you will want to work, clean, etc, but you will need to stop and sleep! Also, like you said, just stop and enjoy the sweet moments because these little ones grow so quick! My twin girls are now nine and so grown up! I have always taught school, even when they were newborns. I can promise you that everything will work out just fine! You are an amazing woman and have a remarkable attitude about life! I admire you and look forward to reading more about your journey!
Love always,
Lori
PS- start buying diapers!!!
Hi Kolette,
I’ve just recently started reading your blog, but I already love it!
I just had my second baby 2 months ago and also have a 22 month old toddler and work at home….it’s very challenging, but if you do a little work at a time it’s not so bad. I do have some very late nights or early mornings when my husband gets up, but it’s still worth it to be home with my children. It’s sounds like you’re already trying to get more organized, which is important! I’m lucky because my mother-in-law lives within 40 minutes and come over a few afternoons a week so I can more work done.
Congratulations on having a baby boy….they are awesome! I have two.
Jamie
Hi Kolette,
I so appreciate all your thoughts on staying organized, I am just the same way. Put everything in perspective and everything makes so much more sense. (I also agree with the comment above about stocking up on food & supplies.)
I have been self-employed for 16 years now, and when my oldest was born (good golly, 10 years ago) I had the bright idea that I would take one month totally off from work to be with my new baby and get settled in. (I then took my baby into my studio with me for the next six months before getting some part-time child care.)
It turned out to be one of the hardest months ever. For someone who had been working for herself for so long, stopping cold and focusing on something completely different turned out not to be the best decision for me. So my advice would be…enjoy your baby, but enjoy your work too! Sometimes it is nice to have that familiarity, that thing you’re good at (work!) when everything about a new baby is unfamiliar and you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. Sometimes creative work can be its own reward.
Good luck to you. I hope the transition goes smoothly for you and that you have many moments to savor!
Kolette,
Wow – you are a goddess, you know! One thing that helps me is doing the task I despise most, first – LOL! Or else I may procrastinate, which messes up all the best of plans!
Congrats on the boy news! Both my boys were born in February – it’s a great month to have a baby!
betsy
Kolette I just found your blog through a Bo Bunny blog post! I look forward to following your blog (and Jason’s new blog) on a regular basis. I’m a 50+ year old mom with 2 teens and a toddler, and it’s so easy for me to get bogged down in the hard part of life. I need every reminder I can to “find joy.”
Great tips for organizing challenging projects — one tip I can add is that when I sit down with a pen & paper to brainstorm a “list” everything I have going on, I get stymied by the fact that the 3rd thing on the list might have to preceed the 1st thing I wrote down on the list — it’s too linear for me. So I take out a big piece of white paper (like the back of an old desk calendar) and draw big circles with the names of each major event/project in each circle. Then I draw little spokes coming out of those circles for each related task, and if it’s a task that needs to be broken down even further, it will become it’s own smaller circle with spokes of tasks. Sometimes those tasks and circles connect to eachother with related tasks. It really helps me to see in a much more open, freestyle way what I have to get done. Then I’ll assign dates to each task and pull each one off to put on a calendar.
You are certainly taking a pro-active approach to feeling overwhelmed by commitments and deadlines.
I look forward to your upcoming Big Picture classes. And I’m working in my gratitude journal from CE.
Wow! Now I have a plan of attack! I’m copying yours
I just received a promotion at work–which seemed fine because it’s mostly what I do already. Then all of a sudden I got overwhelmed. Not by the work, but by the fears inside my side. I think getting organized and making a plan will help! Thanks for this post!
I missed this post the first time around. The good part of that is that I got to read the great comments
Anne Marie is right. Once you have your Master Calendar going, take time – on a regular basis – to “mind dump.” Get all the nagging little things out of your head and onto paper.
A list. Or, since you are artistic, you might enjoy mind-mapping. The point is to get it off your mind.
Periodically (I do it weekly), grab your list or mindmap and “process” the tasks. Put the items on/in your weekly to do list, calendar, shopping list, idea book, project file, a master to do list that you will get to later, etc.
If you use those lists regularly, you can trust the system and free your mind from the nagging “I can’t forget …” thoughts.
I follow a methodology called Getting Things Done by David Allen. He refers to this as achieving a “mind like water.” Common sense stuff, but it works.
Something else that will help, if you don’t already do it, is meal planning – so that you aren’t running out at the last minute to get stuff for dinner.
http://www.organizedhome.com is run by a friend of mine. LOTS of awesome ideas!