Time Management Goes Awry

I hope I am not the only one.

I can’t be.

Have any of the rest of you let life get in the way of your best blog posts? …I am guilty of this. I have been away from my posts for a whopping two months. I know. Let me have it. For all I know, you have been wandering the streets aimlessly drinking out of styrofoam cups, choking down Twix bars, and paying <gasp> retail prices.

I could give you my excuses – the new job, the marriage proposal, and most relevant: the crashing of my laptop. But I won’t. I’ll just do my best to get back into the swing of things, and hope that you’ll be there to pick up some tips along the way!

Check It

I am a planner. I am obsessed with checklists. I have even been known to add things to a To Do list that I have already completed – just to feel the satisfaction of checking it off. Strange? Maybe, but it gives me a sense of accomplishment and motivates me to take care of those annoying little errands or chores that I otherwise might ignore. Going by the post office to finally send that book I had promised to a friend feels a lot more satisfying when I can correlate the trip to me being productive.

So you can understand the frustration I will feel when a wrench is thrown into my plan for list completion. Today’s wrench is the fact that I spent all of last night pointlessly trying to talk my body out of rejecting its stomach lining and subsequently am confined to a sick bed today until I can at the very least swallow something other than Jello. Work out – no check. Plan and cook a healthy dinner – no check. Leave the house for anything whatsoever – no check, no check, no check. This one’s not actually on the list, but Shower – no check.

I still haven’t the faintest idea what has made me this ill – but I could probably attribute it to either an out of the ordinary meal I decided to enjoy throughout this past holiday weekend or a germ-infested surface area from a restaurant, store, or bar. Either way, today I have been struggling with the mental part of me that wants to at least check my email and the physical part of me that wants to curl into a ball and whimper quietly. So I am currently trying to do both – thank God for laptops!

I know getting sick is the body’s way of saying it needs a break – and there’s not much you can do about it. Sure, there were those times when I forced myself to suck it up for a meeting I couldn’t miss or an exam I would not be able to reschedule. But sometimes that doesn’t work. Sometimes you need to spend a day in your ugliest but softest pajamas and not go anywhere near a hairbrush. It helps, I swear. My checklist will be there tomorrow. Right now, though, I have a date with some grape Jello.

My Earth vs. My Worth

As I try to live my life as the type of person who Makes the Right Decisions, I am frequently faced with my own personal belief debacle. Although I would prefer hands down to go with the more environmentally-friendly option of anything, the financial cost of doing so is not always in my best interest. Organic or non-organic? Hybrid or non-hybrid? Recycled or non-recycled?

Let’s face it, right now the global financial system is a train wreck of bailouts, bankruptcies and all around bad news. The worst part of it all is that no one seems to be saying that it will be ending anytime soon. Therefore, even if I am fortunate enough to land my dream job tomorrow, who knows how long that will last in today’s economy? I don’t. And therefore “budget” needs to be my middle name.

In a perfect world, these choices would be one and the same. You could buy toilet paper that is 4-ply, soft, recycled and biodegradable – and the best price on the shelf. You could test-drive a Prius that is both earth-friendly and actually looks good. You could ride your bike to work and not need a serious shower when you get there.

But as we know, we’re not a big fan of perfect in this world. Whether we like to admit it or not, perfect is boring. Where is the challenge in that? What would keep us using these brains of ours? Thankfully there are plenty of people, and companies, and organizations out there who think about these challenges every day, and perhaps will be able to offer me a better option for how I am able to fuel my car.

In the meantime, I will continue to search for the answer to how it is possible to take a two minute shower. I still don’t believe it.

How do YOU make your own decision?