How Did I Get So Busy?

I was checking my daily planner and I was shocked to learn on how hectic my schedule would be by this week. To give you an idea on why I felt so overwhelmed, here's a peek of my to-do list:

1. Faculty bulletin board
2. Greetings banner for World Teachers' Day
3. Backdrop design for photo booth
4. TLE department logo
5. Meeting with the Mr. and Ms. Teacher Idol 2013
6. Recycled product making contest
7. Seminar workshop for Edmodo

I really don't know if I can still get out of this schedule alive! Of course, time management is the key here, but sometimes I think that I am drowning myself into this busyness thing. Now, I remember the book that I've read titled "How Did I Get So Busy?" by Valorie Burton. It is a small book comprised of 28-day plan to free our time, reclaim our schedule, and reconnect with what matters most. I grabbed the book today and schemed it for those helpful tips on how to redefine a busy lifestyle and carve out time into things that would reflect my highest priority.  

After reviewing this book, some of those principles that I think will help me make it through this very demanding schedule are as follows:

• Assess your situation. It is so important that we acknowledge that there is a problem that must be resolved. If you think that your busyness becomes a hindrance for a satisfying life, then it is time for us to find out in which aspect of your life it has invaded you: work, relationships, finances, health and spiritual life. By doing an inventory you can now deal with the specifics. In this way you will find out what are those activities that are making demands on your time. Then, try to 'dream' about your ideal life, with a lot of space to accomplish those things that really matter for you.
• Hurrying up is slowing you down. "Only fools rush in," as the popular song goes. Most of the time we tend to rush things to save more time or to catch up, but in reality we are just consuming more energy for something that will fail because for sure there will be details that we will miss in an hurried task.
• Tame your to-do list. Just like what I am experiencing for the past few days, it seems that the tasks are daunting and never ending. I always feel the need to be ahead and so I will fill up my list with tasks that will make me two steps ahead of what I should suppose to accomplish. In this book, I relearned the importance of breaking bigger tasks into smaller and simpler tasks and tackle them one at a time. 
• Break your procrastination habit. In this book, the author shared her weapon to overcome procrastination: "Dig your heels and just do what needs to be done." Specifically, she gave the following approaches on how to deal with procrastination:

• Commit five minutes to tasks and you will surely gain the momentum to finish the project.

• Stop making it a big deal. Once we perceive that what confronts us is a great deal, it overwhelms us and then we get stuck.  The result: we tend to avoid it and proceed to those we can get easily done. What we should do here is to break the tasks into manageable pieces. 

• Give yourself the permission to do it imperfectly. To err is human. Remember that we can always find the time to polish our work. What important is that you start working on it. 

• Make it fun. Enjoy while doing the task. Invite a friend to help you accomplish it. Play a background music to keep you moving. 

• Drop the goal and enjoy the day. Do not pretend to be a superhuman that can do great accomplishments all in one day.  If you think that you can no longer finish the task for today, drop it from your list and enjoy the moment without thinking about it. This will save from being guilty about procrastination. 

It's been years since the last time I read this book and I'm glad to revisit it today for some sort of inspiration and encouragement. I hope that this can also help you in dealing with your busy days. So if you will excuse me, I still need to revise my to-do list. :)