Staying on Track

My whole sense of time became discombobulated even before last weekend's change to Daylight Saving Time. Being unemployed, I have no set daily schedule. Being a night person, I now stay up later, and as a result, get up later in the morning. I can even lose track of what day it is.

However, a job hunt does call for some structure. So I use two white boards to organize my week.

The larger on is 11"x17", and I kept it in my office to help with brainstorming and project management. It now serves as my weekly schedule. I took this idea from Mom, who keeps a white board in the kitchen by the back door with the week's stuff on it. Even though I keep a calendar, having the week displayed prominently keeps me on track for appointments and major/regular tasks. The items in red are things I need to do every week. Green is for the current week, and blue (at least this week) reminds me of things that take place in the future but that I need to be aware of in order to make sure they get done.

The smaller one is 8.5"x11", and I used it for a variety of things at home. It has become my daily To Do List. Sometimes I find I need to list things that should be habit, part of my regular routine. For instance, this week I started putting taking a walk and practicing my flute on the list. Some structure is necessary, even if only minimal, otherwise things seem to fall by the wayside. Even things I like to do.

Today, well, technically it was yesterday, since it is after midnight, but I haven't been to bed yet, so for me, it's still "today". Today, I finished everything on the To Do List, except for one item that requires an answer from another person. I even took care of a couple of things from tomorrow's list. Providing myself with some structure helps me manage things more effectively. And not just the job hunt.

At some point in the near future, I will have a new job. Of course, that will mean readjusting to keeping more regular business hours. No more staying up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and sleeping until 9:00 a.m. or later.

In the meantime, my body clock should adjust to Daylight Saving Time in another couple of weeks.

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Discombobulated has been part of our family vocabulary for years, but I think today is the first time I've ever spelled it correctly. I always thought it was "disconbobulated." Thank you, Spell Check! (Although, as I did today, I do sometimes verify what Spell Check tells me by looking up the word in the dictionary.)