The child recently complained that he hasn’t had braces put on yet. He has a point. I first started the process of an orthodontic consultation back in February. But that was shortly before I got COVID, then Long COVID, then I started a new job, then I took on a new role with more responsibilities at that job, then edits for my next book were due … it’s been a lot for a long time and I am behind.
Who isn’t behind? Maybe people who are retired? But based on the amount of yard work, home repairs, and babysitting my retired parents do, I doubt that’s even true.
We live in a world of apologizing for being late. We’re late on replies, because we were replying to someone else. We’re late on deadlines, because another deadline came due first. The most overriding feeling I can think of to describe adulthood is guilt.
There is always something hanging over me, something I’m dreading, something outstanding, something SOMETHING.
When I first started my current journalism job, it was summer and the workplace had instituted a remarkable idea: Summer Fridays. On Fridays, we don’t work. At least, we didn’t for those glorious summer months. The extra time, even though it was just a day every week, felt enormous.
A day is a lot. And a day which is not a weekend day means you can accomplish tasks like calling people back, dealing with banks and insurance, making appointments, going to appointments—those life things that get pushed to the side when you’re simply trying to hang on.
That good isn’t sending an email, of course. It isn’t making appointments.
I didn’t realize how much I needed Summer Fridays in my life. And I actually need them year-round.
The movement to shorten the workweek in the United States to four days has been gathering momentum; 2023 was supposed to be the year of it. I can speak firsthand to the promise of reducing the work week to 32 hours. I didn’t do less work when we had Summer Fridays. Somehow the work got done—but I was also able to fulfill my other obligations, including as a parent, in a more organized and timely fashion. I was more rested and probably less resentful.
Now that it’s fall, time tripping swiftly into winter, my office has Quiet Fridays, which means we’re not supposed to take calls, answer emails, or do meetings on Fridays. That helps a lot too, and it gave me an idea recently of how to organize my week.
I’ve instituted Get Sh*t Done Mondays.
The last few Mondays, I haven’t edited (which is my job). I haven’t written (which is my other job). Instead, I’ve focused on the additional work and responsibilities of both my job and life.
On Mondays, I answered emails. I sent contracts. I filled out forms. I made appointments. I returned calls, one of my least favorite and physically most difficult tasks (I’m partially deaf and phone anxiety is a different creature when you’re disabled).
On Sunday night, I sent an email to myself with the list of items I needed to get through. On Monday morning—Get Sh*t Done morning—I responded to the email, striking through the tasks as I accomplished them and resending the email to myself until I got through all of them. Well, most of them.
There’s always next Monday.
Life right now is simply untenable. There isn’t enough time. There is an endless stream of obligations, most of them boring and ridiculous, especially in the face of war and disaster. If I could just walk into the woods, I would. But I have a child, family who depend on me, and friends who like me. Also I want to try to do what good I can in the time I have.
That good isn’t sending an email, of course. It isn’t making appointments. But that’s a part of life right now. So, I take one day a week to buckle down and do as much of it as possible so I can spend the rest of my days working, making art, and hopefully living.
The Magic of Spreadsheets
I’m a paper planner person, but the benefit of digital organization is that you always have it with you. Sending an email to myself with my to-do list helps keep it “top of mind,” and I think the same is true of Excel. Publicists for last my two novels really taught me how to use spreadsheets, and because of them I always have one running for major new projects. The free version of Monday software is what I use for my work projects. It’s a way to organize my thoughts and not lose them, which these days is also a kind of magic.