How to Manage Multiple Goals?

February 18, 2009 1:37 PM

How do I best manage my time in order to work on different areas of my life?

I've been spending some time lately trying to work on a few different goals of mine. In short, I'm working on becoming a better guitar player & songwriter, I'm training for a marathon, and I'm also working on improving my social skills with people I don't know.

This is pretty time-consuming; I spend a lot of time running, playing music, and getting out of the house and talking to people. I just don't know how to best manage this. Part of me thinks I should work on a little bit of everything each day, but I also think it makes sense to dive into one of those goals one day, then another one the next day, etc. and just have one that I focus on each day.

What do mefites prefer?

Also, for the sake of this question, let's please assume that concentrating on one goal at a time is not an option. I want to find the best way to work on them all at once.

posted by PFL to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Cut non-essential activity, or constrain it to cheat days. Stick to a schedule.

Personal example:
1. Wake up at 7am. Exercise (<> 2. Go to work.
3. Come back from work and work on personal project no.2 till 10pm.
4. Go to bed.

Repeat.

There's really no time budgeted for essential chores, hanging out with friends and so on. I've been following this schedule for a few weeks now and it's taking a toll. On the other hand I'm accomplishing much.

HTH.
posted by aeighty at 2:10 PM on February 18, 2009

My preference (and it took me years to get to it...) is to choose one main thing to really focus on a day and then do little bits of the other stuff around that too if they fit. For me it's more mental juggling, like working on several projects at once, and some music stuff too. So if I jump projects too much I can't get into the "zone". But I like to make a little progress with everything each day. I used to spend too much time trying to do everything at once and suffering from paralysis through analysis.

Also- when you have so much on oyur plate, I try to force in some unschedule time when I know I am going to down tools and not think about any of my stuff, it keeps me sane!

My other suggestion would be to double up when you can, maybe socialise with people in a songwriting workshop, or train with people who are training for the marathon too? That sort of thing.
posted by equality7-2521 at 2:14 PM on February 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Seconding the multitasking notion equality7 provided.

Runners' clubs or local training/running orgs?
Songwriters' meetups?

Here's one I'm proud of: run with your MP3 player full of songs that inspire you, your musical influences. Use your running time as time to soak up the music that you want to emulate and embody in your own work.

Or, check this, the multitasking trifecta!
1. Go out and meet people whose musical interests are similar to yours. (Meetup.com, local record store, live concerts.)
2. Get them to suggest things to listen to, to improve your music.
3. Load MP3 player with suggested music, and listen while running.

Also, not sure what the nature of your social shyness is--- but an idea. If there's live music in your area you like-- go to the concert. You are in a crowd, and you don't necessarily have to talk to 'em if you're not feeling like it. A way to ease yourself in?
posted by SaharaRose at 5:41 PM on February 18, 2009

Barbara Sher's Refuse to Choose has some practical strategies at the end of the book for exactly this sort of situation.
posted by divabat at 3:51 AM on February 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

I second Refuse To Choose. I read it and loved it. Also Renaissance Soul ( I believe that is the right title) is a good one too.
posted by grablife365 at 1:20 PM on February 23, 2009