...Go! Day 1

Today is Day 1 of my

21 Day Challenge to do something every day for blog and business. It is also my husband's birthday. So my word and focus for today is committment, with a little bit of "presence" thrown in.

"Committment" because I choose to honor my committment to my challenge AND also to spend time with my husband to celebrate his birthday.
"Presence" because I am trying to "be present" and give my full attention to whatever I am doing. That is not always an easy thing to do when I have put so much on my agenda.

So a full day of work at my 9-5, an evening of pizza and birthday cookies with husband, daughter, and granddaughter, and now... my challenge.

My goal tonight is not to write an amazing post, although I wish I could. My goal is simply to be here and to write as a first step toward creating a habit of daily activity. And, I will read Chapter Four, Blog Writing, from Problogger before I go to bed.

I have an idea hatching about tomorrow night's post, but it is a little too philosophical for me tonight and I need to think it out. My plan for Day 2 is to make a blog post and to begin working on some photo stationary designs for a friend who is giving them as holiday gifts.

Stay tuned!

Multitasking

How many things can one person do at the same time and still make any of them worthwhile? I intend to find out.

Well, that was fast.  Apparently I can not watch TV, visit with family, and blog at the same time.  Go figure.  I miss key points in the show-even a mindless one-I only half hear what someone sitting next to me says and I loose my train of thought while writing. TV watching, family time, and blog writing all become unsatisfying.

I do believe however, right or wrong, that this is a necessary skill that I must learn to master.  I don't mean specifically watching TV and blogging at the same time, but serious multiasking at home. I have recently added enough things to my daily 'to do' list that I would be up late into the night to get it all done.  I prefer sleep.  So, tonight I watch and write. The person sitting with me has already left the room.  :-(

Wait!  What just happened on TV?!

So far, mulitasking at home this evening has included feeding the dogs, letting them out, etc. while beginning to read a book, Problogger, and writing and visiting while watching TV.  I still need to get some time in with one of my online classes and I think it is only fair to get some downtime in, too. Isn't it?  Fair, I mean.

I have this dream, this goal, that keeps me moving. And multitaskaing isn't really as bad as all that, is it? (I just edited this the next day because my writing here was fragmented, maybe I should take a second look at serious multitasking)  After the dogs were taken care of and played with, after the dinner dishes were cleaned, after the dogs were taken care of, again, I was able to sit for 30 minutes to read my book undisturbed.  And what is on TV this evening is not really anything that needs much attention. And as soon as I finish this post, I will go and visit again.

Stella and Marley

In reality, I am not a big supporter of serious multitasking in life.  I think we all do it on a regular basis to some degree as a normal part of our life.  But I mean serious multitasking on a regular, long term, ongoing basis.  Some people may thrive on it, I do not. Nor do I want to.  However, there are times when I also believe that it is necessary.  This is one of those times and I actually welcome the challenge because of the passion I have for the end goal.  I also welcome the challenge to ensure that I do not loose touch with other important and essential parts (people) of my life.

I am not sure how long I can, or should, sustain a serious level of multitasking in the weeks or months to come. I know there will be a lot of it.  I also know from experience in other endeavors that I will, in time, work into a pattern of activity which will allow me to do less serious multitasking.  I welcome that time.  Until then, I am grateful for the understanding and support of my family.

Now, go back to my question at the beginning of this post.  What are some ways you multitask? When is it too much? How do you keep your multitasking from being too much?  I welcome your comments. 

Time to go visit.
Lyn