Productivity in the balance
| I have a love/hate relationship with my to-do list.
On the other hand, I have occasional days when my inner 4-year-old rears her obstinate head, hands on her hips, sassing back: “You’re not the boss of me!” Productivity is great, for sure. But all work and no play, as the saying goes, makes Marilyn an uncooperative preschooler. Not good. As a writer, I work for myself. I’m not gonna lie, 99% of the time it’s great; I can work in my jammies, I exercise mid-morning cause that’s when I’m most energized, and my boss almost never complains about my lame jokes. The 1% downside is that you literally can never get away from your work. It’s a pretty fair tradeoff, but that 1% still gets the better of me every once in a while. Recently I sort of “hit the wall” in terms of my own productivity. Distance runners know that hitting the wall means that you’ve run out of fuel, each step requiring a herculean effort. Similarly my work productivity was sluggish because I’d been operating at a high level without adequately refueling my creative juices, and I felt like the quality of my work was suffering because of it. This weekend is my attempt to give my productivity some balance. Rob and I are in the Bay Area, soaking in a whole lotta football (Seahawks vs. 49ers on Thursday night and UW Huskies vs. Stanford tonight), and visiting our oldest daughter who’s in school here. Other than writing this newsletter I have no intention of working at all! As wonderful as that sounds, I’m secretly hoping that all of this R&R will stoke my inspiration and I’ll be off and running once again. That’s the theory anyway. My boss and I will discuss it over happy hour and let you know how it turns out 😀. Have a happy, healthy week! -Marilyn |
 Vote for me in the Best of Western Washington contestWould you please take a moment now to vote for me for “Best Local Personality on Twitter” in the Best of Western Washington’s Evening Magazine contest? Two years ago I won, last year I came in second, so let’s go for the win again in 2015! Voting end Sunday at midnight and you needn’t live in Western Washington or be on Twitter to vote! Thanks so much! Vote now… |
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On one hand, making that list each morning helps me feel focused and organized. My work is purposeful and prioritized, so I feel accomplished at the end of the day.