Scheduling Non-Work Time
It becomes habit to work. And if you aren`t careful, you could end up working all the time. While it`s not necessarily a bad thing if you`re being productive, most of us find that we have not-so-productive times of the day when we are sitting down to work and surfing the net, checking email or fiddling with something that doesn`t really need to be done at all. You know when your daily doldrums are, so plan to do something better with them.
Rather than feel guilty for doing nothing, why not schedule some time into your day to do other things? There are probably dozens of little projects or tasks that you would like to get done but never have the time for. Or what about making some memories with your kids? Some ideas on what you could schedule into your non-productive hours:
- Take the kids and dog for a walk, exercise will do you all good.
- Do a craft with your kids.
- Do a mindless chore like washing the windows or organizing the cleaning supplies.
- Work on a Christmas craft or another project.
- Read that book you`ve been meaning to get to for months (yes, this counts as productivity . . . you`re getting it off the to do list!)
- Run errands.
- Take a nap.
- Get some yardwork done.
- Call a friend or family member you haven`t talked to in a while.
- Go out for coffee with someone you need to get together with.
- Make bread or another tasty baked treat to warm up the house.
- Cook up a week`s worth of meals and freeze them.
- Clean your desk.
- Oversee the cleaning of children`s rooms.
- Touch up the paint on the walls where Tonka trucks have chipped it.
- Go through the art supplies and toss any dried up markers, chewed erasers and pencil crayons that are broken all the way through.
- Take the kids to the park.
- Learn a new skill like knitting, sewing or karate.
- Work out to an exercise DVD.
- Do puzzles with your kids.
- Get rid of those pesky cobwebs and impress your mother-in-law next time she pops in for a surprise visit.
- Wash your front door, those suckers get muddy fast!
- Separate toys into two or three lots and store in bins, leaving one lot out. Switch every 2-3 months so the kids won`t get bored with one set.
- Read a favorite book from your childhood aloud to your little ones.
- Make a tent in the living room and have a picnic in it.
- Make some coffee or tea and watch a favorite television show.
- Teach the dog a new trick.
- Learn a new habit.
- Teach your child a new skill.
- Sort through clothes and donate the ones you no longer need to Goodwill.
Obviously, the types of activities you add to your schedule will be things that you enjoy or need to get done. Imagine how much you could do if you took an hour of your worst productivity time during the day and used it to clean the house or learn a new skill? It will make a huge difference!
What are some skills or tasks you want to work on in November? I`m looking at training my dog, taking everyone for a walk daily and attempting to make a dent in my list of Christmas crafts.
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I just suck at prioritizing.