Choosing How I Use My Time

One of the recurring themes in my life is "Choosing How I Use My Time." I talk to interns about it, I talk to my family about it, and I talk to others about it as well. I recently read a blog post about getting started in a small business while working full-time, and I found some things to think about, especially when it comes to choosing how I use my time.

I talk to people all the time about time management, organization tips, and making choices. These topics are based in my own experiences over the years and the systems that I have established for my own work life, personal life, and well-being. I have been a good time manager and a lousy one. My organization systems are always evolving and never exactly what I want them to be, but I continuously strive for the one system to rule them all! I also make LOTS of choices about how I use my time.

I choose to do the fun things about being a music therapist (other than leading sessions, of course) at my home. I am often creating therapeutic music experiences (TMEs) and materials for use in my work role here at my house. I have always enjoyed this type of task, so I choose to compose music, write TMEs, and play with file folder activities as part of my self-care/pleasure routine. I love writing a new song for my clients, but it is easier to do that here where there are less client-distractions than at work where I am therapist first, composer second. So, I choose to do these types of tasks in my personal time rather than during my professional time.

I am trying to expand my hobbies into a small business, so I am finding that I need to make some changes in how I use my time.

So, the blog post that I read encourages me to start from the attitude of "what I will give up" in order to accomplish my goals. For me, this isn't really a sacrificial type of situation (other than not going to sleep when my body wants to go to sleep), it is more of a commitment to using my time more effectively. The second and third steps are right up my alley - setting priorities and making a schedule. Oh, my structure-craving heart just thrills to see these types of suggestions as steps on the path of success. The last steps, setting detailed goals and asking for help are things that I am doing at this point. I actually have some help in this process, and I am SO glad that I finally decided that this was something I had to do!

I am getting ready to start a time study. I am going to approach this based on what the Nielsen ratings has asked me to do - keep a detailed record of how I use my time in the hours between 5 and 8 pm. I'll keep it in my bullet journal - nice, convenient place. I'll track when I'm on the computer, when I'm cooking dinner, when I'm talking to my family, when I'm just sitting and staring at the television, and when I spend time working on targeted tasks. I'll look at the study and see if there are trends that I can change - I know that there are.

I have three goals for this week to accomplish. I am working on a new TME about visiting the zoo - thinking about executive function, imaginative play, animal identification, and social interaction for this one. This TME is just crying out for some really cute visual aids, and I have the ability to generate those. I want to start formatting my next book (I've already written 6 chapters), and I also want to start working on my next Music Therapy Morsel (check out my YouTube channel for the others that I've produced). I'm going to try to work on these tasks during the week as well - some of those things will go into my established morning routine and others will have to be fit in as appropriate for myself and my needs.

I am now going to sign off, design my time study, make next week's spread for my bullet journal, and choose how I am going to spend the time until I go to get my hair cut in about an hour and a half. 

For now, I'm choosing to use my time in my quest for organization as well as some self-care (AKA hair cut!).