I Want to Waste Your Time... To-Do List Vampires

Do you ever get the feeling you’re being watched? Like someone has been tracking your every move, even the lame, inconsequential ones? Right now I feel like someone’s been tracking my thoughts. It’s a little spooky, but the good news is I have a pretty good idea who it is, and so far, the “who” in question hasn’t ever meant me harm, so I think I’ll be okay.

What have I been thinking about? That there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to be distracted and productive. My to-do list is a mile long. Actually, that’s a lie, it’s probably about 18 inches long- if I print it out single-spaced on 8.5x11 paper. But still, it’s fairly long. And- though I’ve been consciously working at finding good ways to tackle my list- I’m still only a few scratch-through’s nearer to done. Why? Because I’m not paying attention to my time.

But I don't think it's just me. In the last week, I've read at least 6 posts on this topic.

People call this phenomenon various things. Jody Hedlund referred to one version of it as a Time Suck (I’ve heard that elsewhere, too), and Darren Kehrer on Hoosier Ink called it a clog on writing life’s super highway (creative way to state it), but I’m calling it my To-Do List Vampire. Why? Because it seems to sneak up on me, sucks the time right out of my day, and leaves me feeling spent and unable to accomplish the things on my list. What’s more? I tend to crave more of the same things that sucked the life out of my “git’er done” reserve.

So what’s a girl to do? Where is the time-garlic to keep the vampires away? (Garlic stinks, and so does giving up the distractions I enjoy, but it's also good for you.)

Well, it’s hard to make things go away if we don’t know what they look like, so—for your perusal—the smorgasbord that my To-Do List Vampire loves to dine upon:

E-mail
Facebook
Twitter
Blog Updates/Posts
“Research” otherwise known as Google Searches
Reading about how to write
Reading books in similar genres
“Networking” (making sure I’m keeping up with writing forums/friends)

Now, as most of the posts I’ve read say—these are legitimate things to be doing, as a writer, but…there can be too much of a legitimate thing.

So now, the remedy, the time-garlic:

First, be aware of how much time is being spent where. Write down life in hour, half-hour, even 10 minute intervals, until I figure out when that vampire is striking. And, I don’t think this vampire is put off by sunlight.

Once the vampire visits are noted- make a plan to correct it by:

Implementing FlyBaby tactics (if you don’t know about FlyLady & FlyBabies- then you need to see this: FlyLady.net). Set a reasonable time limit per activity and set a timer! When that sucker, ooh- bad pun, when that sound- goes off, stop. It’s time to move on to the next task.

If this doesn’t help, it’s time to start down-sizing. Maybe it’s not possible to be active on all those websites and still actually write. If I admit the truth- I’m not good at multi-tasking- then I can adjust my schedule accordingly.

The only other option I see is moving to Mercury. (See Timmy Boyle’s post.)

I’m not saying I like this. I’m not saying I’m a fan of wearing garlic for the foreseeable future. But when you’ve got vampires in your life, you really can’t ignore them. Well, you can, but then you’d be dead. And I don’t really want to be dead, or have my writing life be dead- so garlic it is.

I’m curious how you deal with the vampires in your life? Are you just narrowly escaping the fangs of the To-Do List Vampires or do you have your own variety of time-garlic?

Come on’ let’s all be stinky and well-managed together.



p.s. the #1 thing listed on Jody Hedlund's blog as a tool to succeed as a writer? You guessed it, "Writers who use their time wisely."

Picture links:
vampire photo, clock photo, wastebasket photo