How Did That Wrench Get In Here?

Posted by Deb Lee, Certified Professional Organizer®

November 26, 2008

Have you ever had a plan to do something and then other things come up and kinda throw a wrench in your original plan? That’s what happened to me this morning.

Here was my plan:

1. Get up early to take my mum to work
2. Go back to her house (I’m visiting) and blog
3. Help out around the house to get ready for the big dinner my mum has planned

Not a bad plan, eh? It turns out that my mum had quite a few things she needed me to do and they had to be taken care of right after I dropped her off at work. I planned for those things to be #3 (4, 5,& 6) on my to do list. Since I didn’t account for them, my first plan had to be adjusted.

Well, I did what any good daughter would. I did what my mum needed me to do when she needed it done. So, #3 on my list moved up to #2 because my mum’s pretty important to me. My blog is important, too, but it wasn’t urgent for me to do it this morning. It could wait, at least until 11:59 pm tonight. Of course, it helped that I’m on vacation and don’t have “real” work tugging at me.

Does this happen to you sometimes, too? You have an important project and then another important thing or someone (like your boss) comes up and rearranges your agenda?

How do you manage your time when you’re faced with competing priorities?