The project management strategy seems to be working. I've made a lot of progress on this book project this week, and have still managed to get a bunch of manini things done. This has been my game plan for most of the past 2 weeks:

• Do some small, 5-minute thing before going to work, assuming I have enough time. This morning, it was putting away the dishes I washed last night.
  
  
• Do some small, 10-minute thing at lunchtime. Yesterday, it was sorting through the newspapers and bundling the bits I don't need anymore for recycling. Then spend the rest of the time eating lunch and reading something unrelated to work of any kind. Or sometimes take a little nap.
  
  
• After getting home and taking care of the mail and anything else that needs to be done immediately, I set the kitchen timer for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, and set to work on some house project(s). This gives my eyes a break from staring at the computer all day, before I start staring at it all night. Yesterday, I tackled a small pile of bags and shoes and other detritus that got dumped in a corner of the office closet after the move and had yet to be dealt with. And as a bonus, I found the bag I had promised to give to a friend.
  
  
• Then I gather up some dinner and plunge into the big project and set myself a time to stop. Most weekdays I get at least 4 hours in. I've found that with this current project, working in chunks of time rather than in the "finish-this-paper" mode is much more useful. I don't feel quite so overwhelmed, considering that some of these papers are ending up close to 100 finished pages long. And there are 11 of them.
  
  
• After time is up, I'll pop in a movie or take a short walk or just go to bed.
  

Yeah, it's all a bit overstructured for my taste, but it's getting me through this crazy time with some semblance of control. Otherwise, I'd still be wallowing in despair over how much there is that must get done, and wouldn't be accomplishing any of it. And I'm still taking time out to be social, although not as much as I was in the first week of August. The thought of September and knowing that I'll be done by then is what's keeping me afloat right now.

The scintillating details of my mundane life keep you all enthralled, I'm sure.
- posted by Lori @ 4:52:00 PM | permanent link | |