Steve Brewer

…but I can’t help myself: I’m trying to do too much!

The Reality of Our Time Constraints

The reality is that we only have so many hours in the day. I don’t know about you, but I feel overwhelmed with everything that I want or feel the need to do.  We are a society full of strivers and I can count myself part of that group at times.  So, where do we spend our time?

There are things we must do just to “keep the lights on”:

• Many of us work jobs to pay the bills
• We have daily activities to keep our lives in order: paying bills, cooking dinner, taking care of pets, occasionally vacuuming and cleaning the house, and can’t forget laundry
• Then if you have kids? You know there goes more time. Sporting events, quality time, and the inevitable nagging: “Clean your room! Get up or you’re going to be late for school!”

There is more. We have the good habits we’re trying to maintain:

• Meditation, reading, journaling
• Exercise, yoga, daily walks, runs or going to the gym
• Spending time with and checking in with the wife. Relationships take work.

Friends and other relationships? Who has time for that?

The Mystery of the “Do-It-All” People

Oh boy. I am already exhausted just listing those things that if we’re honest consume our days. I marvel at those people that seemingly do all of that and then take time to work on new certifications, take online courses, or go to networking events. By the time early evening rolls around I am toast.

Do they really work? What are they giving up, becoming better at their day job or running a side hustle?  I get wanting to and trying to get better at work and I want that too; maybe my job just doesn’t light me up and touch my soul and thus I have other interests that I need to scratch too.

Maybe they don’t sleep? Wait, I forgot to sleep in my list above; super important and a little bit time consuming when you’re getting enough of it.

What’s Getting in My Way

I would have hoped to have more blogs posted on this website by now. I’ve started a few but inevitably have hit some mental blocks where I wasn’t sure where to take them. Truth be told, I haven’t been consistent enough with writing and that little thing called imposter syndrome has been full throttle in my head.  Just taking the time to write…doesn’t matter what comes out is the only thing that matters in this experiment I am doing. The whole point is to show up and do it. My gut says that if I do that enough, eventually I’ll be led somewhere unexpected, or maybe somewhere I’ve known all along but was just wrestling with.

What else has been getting in my way? As the title suggests, I’m already packing in other activities that are important to me.  At the top of that list is spending time working on the garden, aka the yard here in America.

Side note: Would it be weird if I started using British terms for things and even saying them in the British pronunciation here in America? Maybe I should plant some Basil soon so I can pronounce it baa-zil 🙂

I love the creativity that comes with working in the yard; not the slog of mowing, but shaping the landscape, pruning to generate new life, harvesting my huge pile of compost (okay that is a slog too), experimenting with new plants, etc.

And when overwhelmed, I naturally seek solitude. Being in nature allows me to interact with my surroundings while drawing me toward the present moment and what really matters.

Finding Time: Something Has to Give

Back to the point. When do I have time for this thing? Something must give. What’s my action? I must figure out a way to give up something so that I do this more. I think I know the answer – intentionality. I need to schedule it. If I rely on my feelings, guess what: $h!t ain’t getting done. Simple as that. Here is what I aim to do:

• Set a specific time to get up in the morning
• Timebox my other morning rituals
• Give myself 20 minutes every morning to write

A Question for You

I leave you with a question: Are you trying to do too much? If so, I believe you can take control:

1. Define what’s truly important to you
2. Make a list of everything you want or need to do
3. Ask yourself what must be done now, soon, and what can really wait until a later date
4. Prioritize the list
5. Maybe start a Trello board like using columns/categories for This Week, Next Week, Next Month, Next 6 Months. 

Another side note: If you do use a tool such as Trello, then don’t forget these two things:

• you can add a column for “no timeline” and put some items from the to-do list there to take the pressure off (you might know this as the backlog in Agile software development methodology terms)
• even crazier, you can delete the thing.  Maybe there are things you really don’t have to do.  Just get rid of it.  Talk about easing a burden.

The point is you’ll probably find some things can wait while others can’t. Just start small and move forward with what really matters.  You got this!

Brewer