# Finding Time for Everything



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Is anyone else cursed by finding too many things interesting? How do you find time for it all? Do you somehow balance all your interests and hobbies, or do you sacrifice things? Here's my problem:

Things I NEED to do (over the next few weeks)

1) Catch up with lecture notes.
2) Catch up with a bit of Anglo-Saxon literary theory.
3) Write 3 x 2,500 word essays.
4) Read as much Chaucer, Malory, Dunbar, Henryson, Lazamon, and other anonymous Middle English writings as possible.
5) Simultaneously do what I can to become more proficient at reading Old English without substantial glosses.

Things I WANT to do

1) The things I need to do.
2) Read my backlog of musicology articles.
3) Keep up to date with popular physics and cosmology.
4) Read my favourite poetry and music magazines.
5) Submit some more of my own poetry and short stories to magazines and competitions.
6) Get round to writing some more poetry and short stories first!
7) Write some more music.
8) Prepare for a piano performance diploma.
9) Read some of my backlog of novels I bought for my own enjoyment (not study).
10) Watch a bit of TV.
11) Play video games.
12) Read the news.
13) Read my favourite blogs.

EDIT: Oh, and, of course, find time to listen without distractions to more music!

How do I do it?!?! Too often, I find myself in a position of decision fatigue and so end up doing nothing. Then, because I've done nothing, I reach a point where I have to do nothing other than the things in the NEED list, meaning that I don't get to do much of the WANTS at all.

Why does the world have to be so fun?


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

At the moment the need list is more important than the want list. Then,in the not too distant future, you will be able to have all the things you want !


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Create and fall into a routine, e.g. Catch up on news and blogs in the morning when you wake up, then work on the NEEDs, write during meals, prepare for piano performance in the afternoon, play video games/watch TV during the evening... Basically just take it a little bit at a time. Always schedule a small chunk of time where you do absolutely nothing but sit and think to help keep you sane (fifteen minutes to an hour, depending on how much you need to stay sane). Also, be sure to prioritize the NEEDs based on how soon they need to be done and how easy they are to complete. Devote more priority to NEEDs that 1) need to be done sooner and 2) take less time. That's how I got through high school, anyway.


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Descipline is the key. I've always told myself that. It's all about discipline.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

moody said:


> At the moment the need list is more important than the want list. Then,in the not too distant future, you will be able to have all the things you want !


Sadly that's not true. As soon as these few weeks are over, the needs will be supplanted by even more needs of a similar size. The more needs I complete, the more I uncover!

I think I might give Kopa's suggestion a whirl - maybe even write myself a little schedule. I hope I can stick to it though...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

You could say "Screw all of this!" and enter a monastery...


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Hilltroll72 said:


> You could say "Screw all of this!" and enter a monastery...


Um, don't tempt him--if you know what I mean. 

I think the root cause of the problem is that he's been shampooing with that testosterone gel, even though his doctor warned him not to.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I hear you, and sympathize well with this. I second Kopa's routine idea. One thing my cousin told me is that you can write something like a goal on a piece of paper and tape it to your mirror or some place you are liable to see, say when you brush your teeth in the morning, and then there might be a loop of reinforcing feedback? I try this and I also write in a little memo pad, each morning when I wake on the days that I've decided to enforce my routine, I write a little poem in the morning as a prelude to what I call my "verb palette," as opposed to "list," of things that I might encourage myself to do throughout the day. I don't want to foul my mood saying, "you must do this and this" because then I'll feel like a wierdo in social situations when I'm so driven, I just won't feel comfortable with myself and I already have to devote a lot of energy to feeling alright around people, its hard to explain. 

Anyway, the verb palette will say things like:
"go for a long walk, stretch, practice Medtner, read some of Trollope novel, clean room, work on math, work on Lyapunov editing project with Ryan, moderated talkclassical browsing, catch up with pen pals, listen attentively to new piece, day dream, shoot baskets"...Usually not that many in a day, as it quickly becomes overwhelming. Few enough that I can sort of implant a seed of them in my mind.

On days when I do this, I feel like I have some purpose to my life. Lately I've not been doing that over the break, but I will get back to it very soon. I think that once I'm comfortable at enforcing these things, then I'll keep at it as it is for a while, then maybe step my game up even more if need be.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

So to refine my point, I say limit the number of things on you list or palette in the day to 4 or 5. That is about as many as I can handle. Then when I do it all, I go to bed feeling really satisfied, and the next day I usually feel good, like its a new day. Social things always disrupt this for me, somehow I have to learn how to get more flexible with it, but I get disoriented when I have to socialize.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

In order to separate things out a little, perhaps I should give myself Music Mondays, Writing Wednesdays, and Physics Thursdays! 

Thinking more about this, I think one of my problems is with motivation to do my compulsory work. It's a little bit frustrating because I would love reading Chaucer if I weren't doing it for an essay deadline. So, what I end up doing throughout my afternoons is procrastinating, mostly on the internet, occasionally with the 'wants' list, and make myself feel awfully guilty until I just do the work grudgingly.

Admittedly, however, I work better in the evenings. So, acknowledging and accepting this fact, I'm going to give a trial run of a new routine where I do all my nice hobby things _first_, rather than as a 'post-work treat' as it seems I should. This way, I take advantage of my better work mode in the evenings, and I get to do my lovely procrastinatey things without feeling guilty, which might make the harder tasks of writing and music more enjoyable.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

@ Polednice, I think you've got it! So, just give it a go and see how it "works out" {sorry for the bad pun/choice of words here!}.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Polednice said:


> In order to separate things out a little, perhaps I should give myself Music Mondays, Writing Wednesdays, and Physics Thursdays!
> 
> Thinking more about this, I think one of my problems is with motivation to do my compulsory work. It's a little bit frustrating because I would love reading Chaucer if I weren't doing it for an essay deadline. So, what I end up doing throughout my afternoons is procrastinating, mostly on the internet, occasionally with the 'wants' list, and make myself feel awfully guilty until I just do the work grudgingly.
> 
> Admittedly, however, I work better in the evenings. So, acknowledging and accepting this fact, I'm going to give a trial run of a new routine where I do all my nice hobby things _first_, rather than as a 'post-work treat' as it seems I should. This way, I take advantage of my better work mode in the evenings, and I get to do my lovely procrastinatey things without feeling guilty, which might make the harder tasks of writing and music more enjoyable.


Remember: if you schedule time for your WANTs, then working on those WANTs isn't procrastination.


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