Not Getting Much Accomplished
Update:
- Back to original weight (see my Diet Tips below)
- Finished the chapter I was working on. I’m not super happy with it. There’s a huge loose end I tried to tie up but the way I did it sucks. Well I guess that’s what editing is for. I did increase the word counter by about 4K so that’s good.
- Mostly finished my tax return, still need to review a few things.
I’ve spent almost a week now trying to get organized, and I feel like it’s a losing battle. Every task seems to drag on forever. My “hit the ground running” intention has turning into more of a “hit the ground and splatter” result. Even though I’ve saved the time commuting to and from work, I still wind up spending a good part of the day in the car going to the gym or to the grocery store or running some kind of errand. I don’t know where all the time goes. I think I’m also trying to get too much done at once, and I need to focus on more specific goals.
So I was pretty much done with my 2008 taxes…except that I discovered that TurboTax Online doesn’t allow me to hand-edit certain forms that I need to deal with…so now I had to start a whole new return with the downloaded edition. Remind me never to try their online version again. I had to re-enter all my information. Fortunately TurboTax lets you download your tax data directly from the bank. After I went through this whole exercise I found out that I didn’t need that form…turns out I have a net capital loss for last year…so I can’t deduct investment expenses. :( However, the downloaded version is showing a larger rebate than the online version by about $300. :) I should get it filed today.
Diet Tip of the Day:
Weigh yourself every day, the same time of day, under the same conditions. I like to do it first thing in the morning. Your weight can fluctuate by 3-5 pounds during the course of the day, and by a couple pounds day-to-day depending on what you ate, how much salt you ate, how much you drank, how much you exercised etc. It’s good to establish a range and then see how much your weight varies from the range. If it hits a new low then there’s a good chance you’ve lost something.
Here's what I do to organize my day: I bought a cheap daily planner/journal--the kind with a page for each day--and use it as a to do list. I have a regular schedule of things I need to do around the house, and I enter those things first. Then I add my writing goals and exercise. I try to limit my errands to the two days a week I go to the gym, since I am already out at that point. I usually check my list first thing in the morning when I am having my coffee, and add any one off activities like appointments or whatever. At the end of the day I cross off everything I have accomplished and move the things I haven't done to the next day. I also write down something good that happened to me.
ReplyDeleteI have a palm device that I could use to do this, but somehow the physical action of crossing things off is much more satisfying.
I've made some lists and I'm trying to focus on the top priorities. I did get my taxes done :).
ReplyDeleteI have a crapload of paperwork to go through and it's just a struggle trying to get organized and still have time for writing. I'm making progress just not at the pace I envisioned. So much work, so little time.