Schedule Fail

February is over and done with and hoo-boy. I looked up and realized that I basically missed that whole month.

So on Sunday night I smugly sat down to schedule out my week so that I wouldn’t miss any bill-paying deadlines or forget a kid’s Library Book Day and also still get lots of work done. I noted all of my existing commitments and wrote down pickup times and activities and such even though I know them by heart, all in effort to lay out a visual picture of the week so I could assess the “free” time and plug in my Things To Do accordingly. I used my paper planner, my Google calendar, my wall calendar, and my notebook. And my phone. I was all in.

The problem is I think I forgot that I’m getting old and I can’t stay up late anymore. Or that I had double-booked my Wednesday night. Or that some of my Things To Do actually take more research and/or thinking to actually DO. I mean, you can’t rush art.

So here I am 1.5 days into the week and already I’m behind – a lot. I have no choice but to stick to my pre-scheduled commitments but the ongoing projects that I thought I could weasel into the days are taking a lot longer than I expected.

I just wrote a post that appeared on Agoura Hills Mom and BlogHer called “Lower Your Expectations: Tips For a Family Road Trip.” I think I’m going to have to apply that mantra to my entire life, at least my own productivity.

The good news is that I am not freaking out about this. One of my commitments was a Thai massage – I took a few hours out of my day to drive, experience, and return from this massage and I must say it was a wonderful boost for my attitude. In other times my head would be spinning, but today I am able to say “I cannot accomplish this today – I will need to push my self-appointed deadline forward. And that’s okay.”

Wake me when my Kindergartener starts first grade, please.