Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about time.

I used to keep on top of things by writing to-do lists, prioritizing and scheduling my time. It wasn’t always easy, especially during spring and fall (the busiest times for publishing and gardening) but I used to feel quite good about my productivity.

Not so much this year. In spite of my best efforts, this year I’ve fallen way behind on a variety of fronts.  In fairness, a few unexpected issues arose that were out of my control and they required my time and attention. But the distractions seemed to snowball. And the more I fell behind, the less productive I became. I began to feel overwhelmed. Then guilty. And then frustrated.

I know time is precious. It’s not a renewable resource. Once it’s gone, we have no way of reclaiming it. I believe that how we spend our minutes is, to a large extent, how we spend our days.  I know it’s important to fill the ‘time jar’ of life with the important things first and let the smaller things trickle in around them. But I was floundering.

So, a few weeks ago, I sat down to figure out why. I took one of my daily to-do lists and added up the time it would take me to do everything I’d written down. I had more than eight hours’ worth of tasks listed in a single day. My scheduling was unrealistic.  I’d gone in with too-high expectations and then beaten myself up when I didn’t meet them. I’d also neglected to allow time for all those things we routinely do every day, like making and eating meals for example. I hadn’t factored in the time I spent caring for the veggie seedlings I’d started in March either (and they probably got 30 – 60 minutes of my time every day there for a few weeks). I neglected to include the time I spent on weekly phone calls to my aunt and cousin, or writing emails to friends. Those human connections matter, and it may not be a lot of time in the big picture, but ten minutes here and there add up.

I don’t want my life to become one long to-do list. That’s not the way I want to live. But because I have so many things I want to do, productivity matters to me. So, I need to be more aware, more realistic and smarter with my planning, especially with respect to my writing and gardening goals. I need to get back to author Anne Lamott’s bird by bird technique.

When Lamott was a child on vacation with her family, her ten-year-old brother had to write a report on birds. He’d had three months to write it, it was due the next day, but he hadn’t started it yet.  He was panicked. “Bird by bird, Buddy,” his father said. “Just take it bird by bird.”

Bird by bird, bit by bit. Something Anne Lamott remembered and utilized when she became a writer. The idea isn’t a new one. Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad once said, “You can do a lot in ten minutes time. And ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good.”

It’s a good thing to remember. Small amounts of time here and there add up. So, rather than being overwhelmed with all I have on my plate, I’m going to utilize a more granular approach and break big tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks.  I’m also going to make sure I account for the time I spend on routine activities.

Wish me luck.