I am trying to incorporate new boundaries in my life. I’m not good at it.
I chose the topic of “Boundaries” for all our amazing writers to chew on, mainly for myself. It was a wonderful way for them to be coerced into helping me become fenced. I’m learning.
These are a few tips that I’ve begun putting into practice to help dictate my days. Add on to helpful tips you have as well.
1. Time blocks:
I began breaking up my day into time blocks of priorities. This helps me commit to one project at a time.
As I do this, I’m less distracted, because I know that for these two hours my job is to work on such-and-such. I can turn off my phone and email for that time, because I know I will have a time block later on dedicated to those things.
Sometimes people pride themselves in multi-tasking, and there is an art to it, but I also don’t know if I actually believe it’s possible for me. For me multi-tasking actually means one task takes me twice as long to do, because I’m inserting other tasks in the middle of it.
Having time set aside for one thing gives me the freedom to work diligently on it for a set amount of time, then put it away at the end of the time block and move on to the next thing.
2. Free time:
A friend gave me a great suggestion. She told me she allows an hour “free” time at the end of each day.
That time is set aside for all the unexpected needs that come up in the course of a day. Someone needs something right now, or that phone call I just remembered I forgot to make last week. …
Add these things to a list, and let them be accomplished in the hour of “free time” at the end of the day. That way they don’t become a hindrance to the time blocks set up, but they’re still getting completed.
3. Check email once a day:
This is the hardest one for me. I pride myself in having an empty inbox. But I’ve learned it’s just not possible or practical to have it be a reality.
I’m learning it’s much more practical to check my email in a time block after lunch and then allow that to set my priorities for the next day. If I’m constantly responding to emails, it takes me off track from my real priorities, and decides for me what is the most important thing to do.
