Time

Last fall when I learned I would be laid off from my job I thought that the 'silver lining' to the unemployment cloud would be that I'd have more time keep up with the blogs I read and to write more thoughtful and entertaining posts.
I don't understand it, but it seems I have less time for blogging and blog reading than I did when I worked full-time. It makes no sense to me.

Maybe its the lack of a routine.

Maybe its that I'm still doing a lot of other stuff, just not work-related stuff.

Maybe I'm just spending too much time on facebook.

I hope I can get back into a groove again soon. I don't want to be 'phoning in' my posts or missing days/weeks of my friends' blogs. Transition times can have unexpected consequences.

Tues

As you read this I am driving to Richmond to waste a bunch of time.


My team is allegedly having a meeting this afternoon, although my boss wouldn't respond to my email inquiring about what time the meeting was to start. He knows it takes me 5 hours to get there so knowing what time the meeting starts will determine how much earlier than usual I will need to get up and get on the road. This just further validates my opinion of him as an @sshole.


Then both of the sales teams and account managers (which includes me) are supposed to go to a cook-out at one of the manager's house. Its supposed to be 94 degrees and humid there so that should be a hot mess. I'm tempted to skip it and eat dinner in a nice, air conditioned restaurant but that probably wouldn't be a great career move.


Then on Wed the sales teams and account managers are attending an all-day meeting with a woman from one of those personality test companies. We were required to waste another hour last month answering a bunch of questions online so they could develop a personality scorecard of each of us. For the life of me I don't know how she is going to spend the whole day talking about our combined scorecard as a team. And all of this time wasting comes when I have real work to do.


Afterward the teams are supposed to attend a baseball game together that evening. I really resent having to spend my non 9-5 time with my co-workers. Again, I could be in air conditioned comfort enjoying a Cosmo and a meal, rather than a beer and a hot dog.


But wait! That's not all. Then there will be 5 more hours of wasted time as I drive back home from Richmond on Thurs, when I could be doing actual work for my clients.


Don't get me wrong; I don't mind going to Richmond for real, productive reasons. Meetings with a known start time and agenda, that kind of thing. But bullsh*t like this is just a waste of time.


Crush du Jour: Danny Smith

Time management

Recently I've been having trouble with time management in some places in my life.

Work has defined hours so I'm fine there. Other things like my personal trainer appointment, team trivia night, and Fri Night Dinner have defined days/times so I'm fine there, too. Its my activities with undefined days/times that are giving me trouble. I feel like I need some time management help. Maybe I should read 1 of those books about 'how to get everything done in less time', only I don't have the time to read it!

I usually reserve weekends for 'projects' like cleaning out a closet, filing paperwork, etc. Evenings are usually spent with Spouse and we'll watch TV and talk. I often read blogs at the same time but find it difficult to concentrate if I'm interested in the show that's on. I also need to be respectful of Spouse's feelings regarding blog reading. He has said to me in the past "You work on a computer all day long. How can you sit here all evening long on that computer?" I tried explaining that working and reading blogs are completely different, despite the computer as the common denominator.

Then there's also the time needed to write my posts, and Facebook!

I've mentioned here recently that I am terribly behind in my blog reading. I follow over 80 blogs (my fault, I know) so you can imagine how overwhelmed I feel when I get a week behind. Naturally I'm tempted to just skip that week and begin reading that day's posts. But I'm afraid I'll miss a crucial post where one of you pours your heart and soul out in emotional distress, or shares some wonderful heartwarming reunion story. I just can't take the risk of missing such delectable morsels. That's why I read blogs!

So, on Mon of this week when I found myself a full week behind in reading your blog posts I made the executive decision to skim. I decided not to look at most of the posts from the 3 photo blogs I usually enjoy. Really, I can live without the photos temporarily. I also decided to read the 1st 1 or 2 paragraphs of the non-photo blogs and decide if I should keep reading or not. I know, I hate to admit it, but it seemed the only way to catch up.

This skimming technique worked pretty well, as I was able to read Mon-Wed and 1/2 of Thurs on Mon night. Then I read the other 1/2 of Thurs and Sat and Sun last night, leaving me just 2 days behind.

But I don't want to skim forever, which brings me back to the whole idea of time management. I want to keep up with all your blogs but I can't do it the way I used to, which was reading them a few at a time during my work day, and in the evenings. When work was a little slow I'd read a few posts, then when someone called or I received some request to work on, I went back into work mode. My work level has increased so I think 'slow periods' will be few and far between. I need a different strategy.

Any ideas? When do YOU read posts? How do you manage your time?

Crush du Jour: Jake Pavelka