Scheduling Life

I had a wonderfully indulgent, lazy weekend which appears to be seeping over into my Monday. Whoops!

I decided last week that I would attempt to work a regular schedule, just like a "real" job. One of the best/worst things about being self-employed and working from home is that I can set my own hours. It's great for being able to accommodate other people's schedules, beating traffic and taking advantage of spontaneous outings. It's not so good for ever feeling like you have time off.

Since I have a TO DO list a mile long, my evenings and weekends are often spent working, planning, researching or thinking about work. Even when I'm watching TV or out with friends, I feel guilty about the work I could be doing. Should be doing.

So in an effort to give my brain and guilty conscience* a healthy break, I'm going to try to force myself to work a normal schedule. One with real start times and real days off. And "work" time does NOT include checking email, reading blogs or researching the many, many ideas I get (and never finish). Work time will be defined as actively building, writing, designing or shooting.

Futzing around with Wordpress plug-ins? Does not count. Necessary? Maybe. But it's a huge time suck and one of the things I love to get caught up doing. Well, I can't start working on the marketing part of this site because the design isn't quite right.

Guess what? If no one ever visits your sites, no one will know that your design is good, bad or breaks in IE! (Wow. How did I slip into mocking myself on my own blog? If I start talking in the third person, a la Ricky Henderson, somebody slap me.)

After 6 years online, I've finally learned that none of my sites will ever be finished in my mind. Time to let it go and get on with the business of just *doing* it.






* It's impossible for me to write the word "conscience" without being reminded of Helen Hunt in As Good As it Gets. Con + science? That can't be right!