I've been thinking a lot about priorities lately. I read lots of blog posts about writing by a variety of writers, and a common thread that runs through them shouts loudly, "If you want to be a writer, write. Everyone is busy. You have to make writing a priority if you want to be successful."
Easy to say, hard to do.
Am I correct in assuming you have too many demands on your time? I'm not alone in this, right? When I'm feeling overwhelmed by life, I have to remind myself that everyone else feels the same way, and, really, my complaints are pretty petty. It's all perspective.
But, back to priorities. It's true: if you want to be successful at something, anything, that thing has to be a priority. You have to be willing to put in practice time to achieve perfection...or even a modicum of proficiency.
One exercise I've seen suggested for helping establish priorities is to list what you spend your time on now and then what you'd like to spend your time on (your priorities). Examine the two lists to see how well they match up, and determine what needs to be changed to make them at least closer.
So, here's my list of what I spend my time on now, in descending order of hours per week:
- work - official day job (37.5 paid hours plus 8 hours for lunch and commuting)
- sleep (52.5 hours average)
- family/home time (realistically, we're all awake and in the same place, not quality time) (26 hrs)
- exercise (cycling, walking) (7 hrs)
- reading (5 hrs)
- art (2 hrs)
- writing (1 hr)
Let's see, that adds up to 139 hours, and there are 168 hours in a week. I'd say my time estimates are probably pretty accurate for Monday through Friday. The extra 19 hours likely fall on the weekends and are filled with random activities like chores, chilling in the morning catching up on blog reading and enjoying my cup of coffee, maybe a little more time on my bike, and occasionally more time in my studio. I'm sure there are a lot of "wasted" hours, too.
How would I like to be spending the 168 hours available to me each week?
- sleep (let's face it, sleep will always take up the majority of our time) (56 hrs)
- art/writing (30 hrs)
- family (quality time, not everyone sitting around with a separate computer) (20 hrs)
- exercise (15 hrs)
- reading (10 hrs)
- work
Hmm, same items, totally different order. Not surprising. The new total is just 131 hours after I allotted what seemed to be realistic amounts of time to these big categories (except work, which I'll discuss in a minute). No doubt I'd easily spend that extra time running errands, doing chores, cooking, and otherwise living a normal life. Once in a while, I just have to take a minute to breathe.
I have to admit, I felt a little guilty putting spending time with my family below working on my art and writing. It seemed disloyal, somehow, but the reality of our situation is that we all lead busy lives and don't have endless hours to spend together. They aren't a low priority; I'd love to spend at least a few quality hours with them every day. Contrary to what my daughter thinks, I do genuinely like her company.
The biggest point for me is the time I currently spend on my art and writing versus the amount of time I'd like to spend on them. I'd love for the need to have a regular day job to fall off the list because I am monetarily successful enough with my art and/or writing to at least pay for family health insurance. Given this desire, I allotted no time to a "real" job in my second list. In reality, I'm not going to be able to quit working any time soon, so I need to schedule back in the 45.5 hours that were on the first list.
Wait, that puts my total of assigned hours on the second list at 176.5. That's 8.5 more hours than there are in a week, not counting time for errands, chores, and breathing. It's time for priorities.
This would be the point in the process where I should be assessing what could be cut out of my schedule to make time for more art and writing. I should probably even decided which of those two activities is more important. I have yet to be successful at doing either of those things. I want it all.
What I've realized as I've given this topic a lot of thought over the past couple of weeks is that I tend to prioritize things with deadlines. Not surprising, huh? As a result, my work on the Gilson Middle School art project has progressed nicely because the glass work had to be done before school was out, and the metal work before Thane got too busy with fishing. On the other hand, the window I'm supposed to be making for a client has barely been started after several months because there was no deadline. Similarly, I spend lots of time riding my bike because I'm committed to riding 200 miles in two days in mid-July, and I don't want to fail.
I have no outside writing committments, and so I haven't been writing hardly at all. Even here. I regularly feel guilty for neglecting this blog, but I can't seem to find posts in me lately.
