Spinning Plates

First, here's an update on my last post about making time for stuff that's important to me. It's going rather well, thank you. Every day I have exercised (mostly walking), meditated and worked on my own musical projects. I feel like I'm gaining some momentum and I look forward to this coming week for more of the same!

There will be more than three plates, I can assure you…

That being said, I anticipate things will get increasingly 'packed' as I near the start of school. More and more time will be needed to get things in place - lesson plans, working on our new LMS (Learning Management System) and our new SIS (School Information System), cleaning my classroom (argh!), making sure all the computers are working, sending the broken ones out for repair. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Nevertheless, I will make sure I give time to my personal pursuits. What I think will happen is that I will have to consider rebalancing my active time and the amount of sleep l get on my busy days. Will it be more important to get seven hours of sleep or will I be better off spiritually and creatively if l sacrifice an hour or two of sleep. I think l will have to pay close attention to my body and my state of mind when making these choices. Some days being satisfied spiritually and creatively will make me a happier father, teacher and friend and other days losing too much sleep I will make me a grumpy, testy and unapproachable curmudgeon; not wacky, mind you. So balance and compromise will be the buzz words as I near the coming storm.

Some Notes as l get closer to the "End Of Days” there may be some effective new ways of trimming the daily fat. I’m going to these in place in the hopes of preserving a balanced lifestyle, here goes:

Dressed to impress!

1. Making dinners for the week on Sunday: I’m going to find some recipes that will be made on Sunday, put in the fridge or freezer and then unleashed the day-of. Currently, I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen on weekdays (sometimes 2- hours!) and if I could reduce that oh, let's say to 30 minutes, what a wonderful thing!
   Time saved? - 90 minutes a day (except for Sunday, of course)

2. Planning entire ‘wardrobe’ on the weekend. My approach to clothing is bare bones - boxers, t-shirt, socks, pants and a dress shirt. I usually leave prepping these items for the night before. All good, yes? Well…given my lack of consciousness with regard to laundry, there have been times, usually just be for bedtime, when I’ve had to chuck some shirts into the washer, wait for them to be done and then hurl them into the dryer and if l am to be a conscientious homeowner that would also mean I’d have to stay up with the drier until it’s done. All told - this robs me of almost two hours of sleep! l know, l know… those of you grownups who have their laundry act together and are wondering why in the hell a 63 year-old man is finally coming to terms with his laundry habits. I get it, I can see how preposterous this is. My only defense is that I was brought up in the wilds of dysfunction and was never provided strong examples of day to day life. So if I’m finally getting to this in my superannuated state, so be it! It will hopefully buy me more sleep and work time.
   Time saved- 120 minutes a week

3. Enlisting the assistance of others: currently there are three other healthy, happy humans in my house and they are quite capable of helping with the chores. I will give them credit - they already do a fair share of work around the house, but as ‘Mount Doom’ comes into view I’m thinking a little more help would be quite excellent! I will have to remember that all of them have jobs and outside responsibilities just like their father so negotiating, understanding and deal-making will have to be employed.
   Time saved? - variable but could be a fair amount - will report back to y’all later.

   As far as I see it, that’s a good start. If l can get these systems in place on a regular basis, I may find myself being able to reduce the crazy factor during the school year - Yay!

   Also, if any of you have some time saving ideas for day to day life, please let me know in the comments. The more time saved opens up possibilities that otherwise could not be considered.

   Again, I will check in with with you folks to let you know if it’s working. And if I find any super cool make-ahead recipes, I’ll be sure to share them. Anyhoo, this should be interesting!

   Cheers

   Rob