The other week, I met with an enthusiastic career counselor here.  Instead of making me feel like a scattered, unfocused flibbertigibit, she seemed genuinely excited about all of my ideas.  It was affirming to say the least.

But I can’t decide what to focus on . . . 

But I can’t decide how to spend my time . . . 

But I can’t decide what to do first . . . 

We talked through some things, and I now have the hint of a game plan.  There is MUCH work to be done, but I feel like I’m putting one foot in front of the other.

On my docket:  developing a new schedule for myself.

(If this sounds familiar, I tried making myself a schedule when we first arrived in KL.  Haha.)

Schedules are hard.  Because they are ALWAYS changing.  I did a lot of yoga the last two months because I had an unlimited pass, but now it’s out.  I’m doing a CrossFit like class, but that instructor will be gone by this summer.  The kids had an after school activity, but it’s on break right now.  Always changing.

And then stuff gets changed up at the last minute.  Something on the car breaks.  A kid gets sick.  You get an opportunity to attend a cooking class last minute.  You never know.

With my Upholder nature, I still like to have a schedule as a goal.  Particularly as someone who is dabbling with self employment, I find it very helpful to have a schedule.  Maybe it doesn’t always happen, but I’m getting more accomplished than I would otherwise.

To approach this, I started putting together lists.  Lists of stuff I want to do every day.  Lists of stuff to do weekly.  Lists of stuff to do sometimes.  INFORMATION CAPTURE.

Every day:

• Spend quality time with the kids
• Spend quality time with James
• Work out
• Do a daily pick up to fight clutter
• Catch up on email and texts
• Reach out to friends and family
• Meditate
• Read
• (And cooking and kitchen cleaning, but I didn’t really put that.  It just seems to happen.)

Every Week:

• Planning and scheduling things
• Grocery shopping
• Wash sheets, towels, and clothes
• Clean the bathrooms
• Vacuum/mop

Big Rocks:

• Writing for the blog
• Writing for a book
• Developing more back end website stuff
• Travel planning
• Working on my Health Coach stuff

Looking over things, I’ve realized that housework has been creeping up.  I used to make a game of spending as little time as possible on it.  I need to get back into that mode.

I also realized that I can’t seem to drop any of my big rocks.  I keep trying to focus on one thing at a time, but I just CANNOT.

Instead of fighting it, each activity gets a day.  Blog writing on Mondays.  Travel Tuesdays.  Website Wednesdays.  Health Coach Thursdays.  Currently, Friday is free to do other fun adventures, catch up on other administrative stuff, or absorb stuff from another day that got bumped because of other schedule surprises.

(For cleaning, I throw sheets into the wash first thing on Mondays.  Towels on Tuesdays.  Tuesdays are also for toilets now as well.  And I’ll figure out the vacuuming later.)

I have defined workout classes currently, and I really like this.  It helps me know what clothes to put on each morning.  It makes sure it gets done.  It makes me feel accomplished without taking over other stuff.  When I have to switch to the next iteration of working out, I want to make sure it is very clear in the schedule.

I still need to work on many things.  I have several photo projects that could use some dedicated time.  The desired daily pick up hasn’t been happening.

But having goals makes all of this easier.  Even if it doesn’t happen, it is MORE LIKELY to happen now.  This is why I really like the daily focus plan.  It narrows my focus.  And even if I don’t feel like I accomplish a lot, I do accomplish something.

Do you have a schedule?  Is it rigid or fluid?  Do you get frustrated when things have to change?  I’ve been doing Towel Tuesday for so long now, I think I forget that other people have their own systems.  Silly Upholder.