Last week I “came back to work” struggling to get motivated. I had a HUGE to-do list that consisted of at least nine things I needed to be doing. I also looked at various time-suckers that were impeding my work without adding any value.
I went through both of those lists and decided what to do first (on the to-do list) and what to stop doing (on the time-sucking list).
So I didn’t feel too overwhelmed, I decided to choose just three items to crack on with first. Here’s how I did:
- The history book was due in on 1 March but my lovely editor granted me an extension as they don’t expect to have to do much work to it, which is nice, but the job is still in my to-do tray. This job needs to be a priority.
The week before last we were snowed in for five days thanks to the Beast from the East. We didn’t mind, we live in a lovely place and, fortunately, had enough supplies of everything to keep us going, and what we didn’t have we baked.
However, I did have my final visit to the Cadbury factory in Birmingham booked in so I could collect the pictures they’re graciously allowing me to use and to fill in the last few gaps of my research. But I couldn’t get there.
Therefore, this final visit has been rescheduled for this coming Thursday. So that’s a partial TICK, or an IN PROGRESS. Wahey!
- The proofreader/author consolidation needs doing as this book is already late.
On Friday I was able to haul this out and have a look … but the author corrections haven’t actually come back yet. So I have nothing to consolidate. This job is, therefore, RESCHEDULED.
- I may as well finish the editing job I’m almost done with.
I finished this job on Thursday morning, sent it to the author for queries, and invoiced. TICK! Wahey!
Aside from these three items, there were another three to do once those above were completed or addressed:
- Write the guest blog post for the very good friend. (I’m really sorry I haven’t done this yet, but I will do it – I need the discipline!)
I’ll be doing this one this week.
- Finish editing Catch the Rainbow and get it sent to the beta readers.
I’ve not looked at this one yet, but I’d like to this week.
- Try to write a blog post every day.
I actually started to do this last week, and on some days I wrote two blog posts and scheduled one for the next day (including this one).
What I didn’t say about the time-suckers is that most of them are bunched together and allocated just one hour every day. When that hour is up, I come to a suitable place, stop doing it and abandon anything else left on the list.
The only time-sucker I decided to delete was:
- Too many clicks to win
Other time-suckers I decided to reduce were:
- Too many competitions
- Too many games
And so I reduced the number of daily competitions I enter from those expiring in the next 7 days to just the weekly/monthly red top women’s magazines and puzzle booklets …
… and then on Friday (which was also my birthday), I won another competition! (Entered the week before.) I won two tickets to the National Homebuilding and Renovating Show at the NEC next weekend! This is the second competition I’ve won in as many months, and it’s one of the competitions I’ve stopped doing!
This makes me question whether it’s a time-sucker to remove or perhaps keep for when everything else on my list is done for the day.
However, I did only play one game during last week: Forge of Empires, and I’m coming this close to deleting the Soda Saga game.
That means this week’s to-do list looks like this:
- write a blog post every day
- write guest blog post for a friend
- haul out Catch the Rainbow
- complete a new proofreading job for favourite client
- start a new editing job for favourite client
- scan the jobs board on a daily basis
- daily competitions
- daily online surveys
- daily videos
- check bank every day
- final visit to Cadbury
- plug the Cadbury gaps in the book
- complete 2 daily polls every day
- diary work
- weekly backup of the pc
- weekly invoices/finances
It’s still a hefty list, but those highlighted in blue are bunched together and allocated just one hour a day between them, while those highlighted red are weekly or one-off jobs. I’ll still be reading and jotting down notes as well for the new cosy mystery I’m itching to write as well as 52 books in 52 weeks.
What’s your to-do list looking like this week? Answers below, and thank you for reading.
wow. It’s coming along well! As ever you’re leaving me breathless! good luck.
Thank you!