I have been enjoying a bit of a hiatus from blogging for six weeks or so, so what have I been up to? I started a new company in conjunction with my daughter's boyfriend, I have watched five seasons of MASH, I have read (a little bit), I have played Guild Wars with my daughter, I have helped my wife decorate half the house (well it feels like it!), I had a very busy time with church over Easter, I made a new fence for the garden, oh and I WROTE!
The Mended Fence
Come on, size isn't everything!
Since starting my blog in October last year, I found myself spending more and more hours writing, reading and commenting in the blogosphere. It reached a point where I was spending four hours or more a night on blogger and precious little time doing anything else. I originally started the blog as an encouragement to start writing the books that I am carrying around in my head, and indeed through many wonderful blogs I have found a wealth of resource material, inspiration and invaluable advice. BUT, and there always seems to be a but, I was spending so much time blogging, and writing for blogfests, I realised I was not writing my novels
at all. I was neglecting my duties around the home, and worse I was not spending any quality time with the family.
I have come to notice a pattern in my life - I latch onto something that consumes my attention, and I become immersed in it to the exclusion of pretty much everything else. The result is that I burn out. When in the middle of it, it seems unthinkable that I could give it up, and yet there comes a time when I find the commitment has waned and the guilt over the hours spent spoils the enjoyment. Is this what has happened to my blogging? Well, yes and no. The difference between blogging and the other activities that have come and gone (such as games and forums) is that blogging is NOT a waste of time - it serves a real purpose and is a good discipline.
So I do not want to turn my back on blogging, but instead I want to learn to change a habit of a lifetime (nothing like a bit of ambition!). I want to learn to blog in moderation, to make space for writing, to spend time being useful at home, as well as spending time with the family. I need to spend time focussing on my business, and on building up the new company. I remain committed to my service to the Church and I am seeking guidance on how that service might develop from here. Realistically I have 48 hours per week to divide amongst my many interests.
So here is a rough pattern I propose to try:
| Church (incl personal study) | 12 hrs |
| Family | 12 hrs |
| Genyx (new company) | 6 hrs |
| Writing | 8 hrs |
| Reading | 4 hrs |
| Blogging, blogfests | 6 hrs |
I hope by sharing this resolution with you, I might be able to find some elusive balance in my life and, who knows, I might find I am not alone in being a walking time management disaster! (no, don't ask how I can run a business if my time management is shot!)
Do you have ways of managing your time that work for you? Are you naturally able to juggle the many demands on your life? Is there really truth in the claim that men can't multi-task?!
at Grandma's Goulash for running the Monday Microfiction Meme. Grandma posts a photo and invites us to write a caption or story in either under 140 characters (tweet-length) or under 140 words. As an extra challenge we are given a word to insinuate into our offering.
