Paauwerfully Organized - How do I effectively juggle a job, a performance career, and a long-distance relationship?

How do I effectively juggle a job, a performance career,
and a long-distance relationship?

Dear Kathy,

Thank you for your website at www.orgcoach.net. I have found a number of great tips there and I know I will put the information to good use…when I can find the time!

I am a musician and I also have a part-time job that I work from a home office. My performance career creates some peaks and valleys in my schedule, although my agent usually has scheduled my next auditions before the final curtain of my current production. In addition, I am seriously dating a man who lives about 4 hours from my home. Right now I feel totally overwhelmed and like my life is spinning out of control. I would love to learn how to more effectively juggle everything. Any suggestions?

Sincerely,

Overwhelmed in Boston

Dear Overwhelmed,

I just wrote a newsletter article called Take Back Your Time. Here are some tips I shared in that newsletter:

Time management is not just a tool like a calendar or a Palm Pilot. It is a foundational skill upon which everything else in life depends. Here are seven tips to help you manage your time:

Prioritize your week. Organizing your time without first clarifying your priorities is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Ask yourself this question: If nothing else happens this week, what are the most important activities or relationships I choose to pay attention to? Without making plans to focus on these priorities, you will most likely not get to them…especially if they are not urgent. Planning goes far beyond just making lists. A plan is when you have carved out specific time in your calendar (an appointment with yourself) to do something. Need help getting started with weekly planning? Visit our planning tip sheet or participate in our Declutter Your Life teleclass series.

Learn when to say NO. As Stephen Covey says, “It’s easy to say ‘No!’ when there’s a deeper ‘Yes!’ burning inside.” When we operate from a big-picture view of our priorities, it becomes much easier to decide what to say YES to and what to say NO to. Remember this truth: Every time you say yes to someone or something, you are saying no to someone or something else.

A good way to learn what to say NO to is to check your self-talk. Are you saying “I should…” “I gotta…” “I have to…” or are you saying “I choose to…”? Be at choice! Then write your not to do list and stick to it!

Limit your time for activities that consume you. For example, if you find that you are overwhelmed by e-mail, limit how many times a day you check it and how much time you’ll spend to read and respond. When I came back from vacation to more than 1000 emails, I was amazed at how unimportant some messages became! Limiting your time can help you to prioritize.

De-clutter your life. My definition of clutter: Anything you own, possess, or do that does not enhance your life on a regular basis. By this definition, clutter can be things in your physical environment. Clutter can also be activities, thoughts, and even relationships that don’t enhance your life. Once you clean up the non-physical clutter in your life, you’ll be able to make better decisions about what to keep and what to remove from your space.

Take our free Professional/Business Organizational Assessment or our Personal Organizational Assessment to help you sort out what areas need the most attention.
Schedule protected time. In your calendar, block out time to work on projects that require concentration without interruptions. Perhaps your company can create some strategies for supporting co-workers when they need uninterrupted time.

Reduce stress. Incorporate these into your daily habit: exercise, play, meditation, relaxation or quiet time to still the mind, healthy diet, enough sleep.
Separate work from your personal life. If you are regularly taking work home or working overtime, develop skills to negotiate with your boss (even if that’s you!) about when, where, and how results are produced. Manage by results, not by how many hours you are working. Take our free Work/Life Balance Assessment to determine how you are doing with this.

I hope some of these tips help you to clarify your priorities and then organize your time around them.

Kathy Paauw

Certified Life Coach & Productivity Consultant

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