Sunday, November 23, 2008

On being overwhelmed

They say if the task in front of you looks too big to tackle then you should break it down into smaller components and then do them in an orderly fashion one by one. The weakness of this method is that if you break it down into manageably small units then you will almost certainly look at the number of small units and then get overwhelmed by that.

Using this method I now have a list (in order of urgency) that says I have to finish all these things by the time I go to bed tonight:

Pages to read (in 3 different books/theses): 360

Reports and/or reviews (anything from 180 to 400 words) to write: 8

Cats to feed and clean up after: 2

Urgent financial issues to chase up: 3

Machinefuls of laundry to wash and dry: 3

Sinkfuls of dishes to wash, dry and put away: 1

Book covers to scan, crop and convert to emails: 4

Stacks of hard rubbish to gather from various places around the house and yard and organise neatly out on the nature strip for the non-negotiable early morning collection date, after having made sure nothing is longer than 2 metres and having put all small objects in boxes and removed all visible rusty nails and anything else with which recyclers official and unofficial could hurt themselves: 1
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7 comments:

  1. fifiNovember 23, 2008 at 12:21 PM

    I'm so with you. I think I'll be up till 3am...

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZoeNovember 23, 2008 at 12:45 PM

    I thing more blogging is in order, then.

    (vesteds)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kerryn GoldsworthyNovember 23, 2008 at 12:55 PM

    Yairs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. krisNovember 23, 2008 at 1:27 PM

    This statistics post in itself looks like a magnificent feat of procrastination...

    I salute your skills.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 23, 2008 at 2:20 PM

    As an old Hungarian friend used to say " Dishes is not like rabbits - they won't runaway"

    So you can leave tehdishes and washing - they'll still be there when you decide to do them.

    Although I'm every so slightly (actually I'm tremendously) disapproving of people who leave laundry for one BIG heap. I do laundry nearly every day. And I HANG it out in the fresh air - no dryers.

    Dishes on the other hand can sit for days - as long as they are soaked and not left dry and crusty. Why put washed dishes away when they are only going to be used again.

    Reading can be done in bed, on toilet, while eating or watching telly - so no probs.

    Scanning can be done while blogging or reading about the two faced cat in Perth.

    Cleaning up cats only needs to be done is you can't close door on cat room or having visitors.

    So that only leaves finance as top priority - the write reviews and stuff - just bash out a rough draft first - you'll feel better.

    Any other advice you need on love, work or meaning of life - email me for my mobile number.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lefty ENovember 23, 2008 at 2:43 PM

    Sounds like you need a Man Friday, Pav

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kerryn GoldsworthyNovember 23, 2008 at 3:05 PM

    ... no.

    Too easy.

    ReplyDelete

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