Over-scheduled

Wow. I’m having a hard time believing it’s August already.  Every year seems to slip by a little faster, but this summer has truly flown by, somehow without anything to show for it.   I haven’t gotten any of the yard work or household projects finished.   I’ve taken on so much that I can’t do anything but the side hustles.

This summer, I’ve been busy.  I teach classes one Saturday each month, I’ve picked up a couple of web design jobs,  I’m the webmaster for a nonprofit, and I’ve taken on an affiliate marketing project.    Oh, and I can’t forget my 50-hour-per-week day job or the ebook I’ve promised to help prep and launch.  With all of these projects, my cash flow situation is better than its been in a while, but my time is seriously crunched.

That’s not even counting the family activities.  We’ve had swimming lessons, birthday parties and family reunions…all in the last month.

Our family is seriously over-scheduled.  It seems like there is no downtime, which is a situation I’ve always tried to avoid in the past.   Somehow, I’ve lost the ability to say “no”.   Because of that, I’m now left with the impossible task of trying to scale back.  While I can’t abandon my commitments, I need to work towards resolving them all and not taking on more.

[ad name=”inlineleft”]It’s time to scale back through attrition.   In a month or two, I should be down to a sane schedule again, and able to tackle the things I really want to do that have been indefinitely delayed.

Everybody takes on too much at times.  How do you avoid over-committing?

• Learn to say no. It is okay to refuse to take on more projects.   You probably aren’t the first person to turn down the project and you probably won’t be the last.  Don’t assume its your responsibility.  It is fine to leave it for someone else.
• Prioritize. Don’t prioritize your projects, prioritize yourself.  Know what you need to accomplish.  Know what you want to accomplish.  Deny the things that other people want you to accomplish if the new tasks don’t fall into the first two categories.   You need to feed your family.  You need to pay your bills.  You don’t need to take on the soccer team’s newsletter or volunteer to make 1000 cupcakes for some fundraiser.
• Know your commitments. Most people overestimate how much available time they have while underestimating how long a new project will take.  This leaves them double-booked.  Take a realistic look at what you are currently doing, even if it means keeping a log of your day for a few weeks.  You’ll probably be surprised by what you are already doing.
• Stay organized. If you aren’t keeping track of what you need to do, you’ll end up running around crazy trying to get it all done.  Keep a calendar and leave yourself notes.    I get daily reminders of what is on my Google calendar each morning.
• Know your limitations. If you aren’t technical, don’t volunteer to build a website.  Do your strengths, let someone else deal with the things that are your weaknesses.

It’s entirely too easy to do too much.  When every moment of your day has two of more things that need to be done, you’ll do them all poorly.  How do you avoid taking on too much?