Insights on time management for work-at-home folks like me
On Saturday, as Erik and I were driving to San Jose for the family New Year’s dinner, I was griping yet again about how I never have enough time to do everything. It’s become an incessant whinge at this point, but Erik listened patiently (as he always does!). He asked how many hours’ worth of work I put on my daily to-do lists, and I said about six to eight. He said that for him, a good work day means a to-do list of about two to three hours’ work, since work expands to fill the time.
“People with ‘real jobs’ only get about that much work done every day anyway,” he explained.
“But that’s just it!” I burst out, realizing we’d found the heart of my time-pressure frustration. “At a job, you can only get in a few hours, because your time is taken up with stupid stuff like meetings. But I don’t have a boss to make me do these things! How come I’m still not able to work eight-hour days? Doesn’t it stand to reason, if I don’t have silly employer stuff to do, that I could have that whole nine-to-five day for my own projects?”
We talked about this some more, until we came to the following two conclusions. First, running the Etsy shop is a little like having an employer, because it requires me to do what Erik calls “work that isn’t work”: posting in the forums, being active in the blogosphere, taking product photos, etc. This stuff is all useful and is often enjoyable, but if I stopped doing all of it, the core work (crafting) would still need to be done: hence the “work that isn’t work” designation. It’s stuff I have to do on top of the core work. Second, I may not have to go to three-hour meetings, but I’ve managed to replace these with my own non-work activities: laundry, dishes, cooking, running errands. I started doing these during the workday because I don’t like leaving them for the evening, but I suppose they do eat into my work time just as much as meetings would.
After we figured this out, I decided to do an experiment this week. Every day, I’ll make a daily agenda (to-do list, if you prefer) comprising my top priorities for that day. From nine to five, I am only allowed to work on items from the agenda, and if I finish those, I’ll move on to items from my action lists. No dishes, no unnecessary cooking, no non-work errands; if I think of anything I must do, I’ll write it down and get to it in the evening. It’ll be like going to an office job, basically. Coincidentally, my office here at home has actually become more physically separated from the rest of the house, as of two days ago; because Tisha’s still got a drain coming out of his wound, I didn’t want him getting into my crafting area. So I’ve barricaded off one entrance to the office (who knew those giant storage bins would come in handy in this role?!) and shut the doors of the other, and now it really does feel like going to the office. I suspect this is actually helping me get more done.
Today’s results
So how did the first day of the experiment go? Today I made a six-item agenda, and in ten and a half hours, I got to everything on it. Not too shabby, though my day ended at 7:30 and Erik and I were both so tired we went out to eat instead of cooking. So I didn’t get any householdy things done… if this keeps up, I’ll soon be having household anxiety instead of work anxiety! I also did quick email checks during the day, which I said I wasn’t going to do, but I need some kind of stimulating two-minute break every so often… it’s either email, Minesweeper, or cookies. All terrible options! I’ve tried stretching, and I do need the stretch breaks, but they don’t take my mind off things the same way. Probably I should put Michael Jackson on my iPod and dance for three minutes, but Erik would hate that, and I hate ear buds. Well, I’ll think of something.
My favorite time of day for working is always the morning. Ideally I’d start the day with some outdoor time — a walk or some gardening — then take about forty-five minutes to eat breakfast and do my morning pages, and then I’d work straight through till lunch. This morning I did exactly that. Erik and I went for a walk on the trails, where everything was so bright and dewy and filled with birdsong, it felt like the world had just been created. (Erik: “It was a lot hotter when the world was created.” Me: “True.”) After my pages, I started a new decoupaged box, and worked on that for an hour. It’s going to be all rainbow colors and patterns; so far it’s looking very cheerful and cacophonous!
I finished the black and purple “Goth box” yesterday, and I am utterly in love with it. For the center inside lid, I found an image of a shadowy room reflected in a round mirror, and it gives the whole interior a very mysterious feel; meanwhile, the ethereal flowers keep it from coming off too harsh. The box needs some more coats of Mod Podge and then sanding down, but it’s basically done. It’ll go into my Craft Happy inventory!
After the decoupaging, I did my weekly review, during which I discovered a note I’d written while on the train back from Fremont last week. Right after passing the Fruitvale station, I saw an incredible, slightly rundown old brick complex that would make a perfect model for a school or hospital in a graphic novel. I did a bit of online sleuthing, and discovered that it’s the St Joseph’s Professional Center in Oakland. I couldn’t find any good photos of it, but if you look up 2580 12th St, Oakland, in Google Maps street view, you’ll see a bad photo of the view that so captivated me. One of these days, I’ll drive out there and sketch or photograph the place.
Yesterday I sold the craft apron I made a couple of weeks ago, so this afternoon I sat down 
and made another one. I discovered while selecting fabric for it that I don’t actually have very many appropriate-weight fabrics wide enough for these aprons, so I’ll have to figure something else out before I can make too many more.
I’m happy with the apron I made today, and really pleased with my decision to model it with a mustard linen skirt. It’s still hard for me to picture how pieces of fabric will look once they’re sewn into bags or aprons or pouches; when I took out this fabric, I was afraid it would look really old-fashioned and chintzy. I think you could still play it that way, but with more modern color combinations, I don’t think it looks outdated at all. It’ll look great with jeans too!
After making the apron, I sat down for some sketching and Inkscape/Photoshop time, hoping to finish the last images for my website revamp. I may be a better artist now, but it looks like a good self-portrait will still require time! I’ve revised my website launch date accordingly; I now think it’ll probably require at least until the end of the week. In the meantime, though, I’ll give you a preview: go here to see my new art page.
That’s it for today — looking forward to trying out another full work day tomorrow!
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
You know, it’s funny–our thought process regarding work-from-home productivity is nearly identical. I totally thought that I’d be the taskmaster queen now that I no longer have to wait around for assignments, pretend to look busy for most of the afternoon, and fill out paperwork for everything I do…but unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case for me either.
Erik makes a really excellent point. I suppose my former work days could have been boiled down to only a few hours of productivity, which is kinda sad. Ah well.
Sometimes I feel like I’m experiencing the opposite problem I used to have at work: When I worked for someone else, 99.9% of the time I was bored stiff, mostly because I was doing things I didn’t have a vested interest in. Now, I have too many things that I want to do, and I get easily distracted. That, and the fact that I’m very concerned with the quality of my work more than I was at my “regular” job, I think everything takes just a little longer to complete.
Hmm. So much to think about…
I’m glad I don’t have to “look busy” anymore, that’s for sure! The only other member of this household who might have anything to say about my work habits is Erik, and he already understands that the creative process involves lots of Minesweeper. 😉
I totally concur with the too many ideas = easily distracted problem! That’s why I still have to make a daily agenda, in spite of organizational guru David Allen’s warning against them. If I don’t have some kind of signpost that is unique to each day, I just get overwhelmed.
I was going to say something else about working from home but now I’ve forgotten it.
If you continue to have a more closed off work area, I’ll be interested to see how that affects your work day. I know one major problem for me is being in a space that’s not only my work room, but my bedroom, my hangout room, etc. Not only does it make for serious distractions at times, but it’s REALLY hard for me to quit working for the day, because I can just pop over to my table to make “one more thing.”
I dream of the day when we have our own place and I can wall my minis off from the rest of my life, so there’s a little more balance 🙂
Oh, that was the other thing I meant to comment on before: the “work that isn’t work.” I struggle with that so much. For instance, I feel bad for not being more active in my Etsy team forums, but I have no idea how these people manage to get their work done and comment in the forums all day. I have a hard enough time as it is getting all of my things listed, Twittering and blogging about new shop stuff, and responding to work emails. Sometimes I wonder how much all of these supposed technological helpers are really just serious time drains…
P.S. I hope the kitty’s doing okay!
Ohhhh, I can’t even imagine trying to do what I do in one room — it’s hard enough getting things done even with a dedicated (and very decently sized) office! Major props to you for making it work. And I totally know what you mean about not quitting because you want to make just one more thing. Sometimes, even when I’ve gotten into bed and turned off the light, I just have to get back up and run into the office to jot down some ideas before I forget them in sleep. I’ve gotten quite good at writing in the dark. 😉
I also agree on the forums and blogging and listing and so forth! I do a lot of those things daily, but even so, I still feel like everyone else out there is more active in those areas than I am. I guess we all just pick and choose where to spend our time! But it’s why I haven’t joined an Etsy team yet, though I have several in mind that I’d love to be a part of. I just don’t think I should take on ANY MORE commitments!!
It’s funny, when I was at the craft store yesterday, I was drooling over those organizational desk components, the ones that are sold in pieces and you can put them all together to create the office/craft space of your dreams. One day!
And yes, I agree about not taking on too many commitments. The teams are definitely fun, but–and I hate saying this–they definitely haven’t led to any increased sales, judging by my site stats, so I really need to watch how much time I spend on team-related activities, at least during the hours I’ve designated as work time.
I love anything to do with organizing. 🙂
You know, the longer I’m on Etsy, the more skeptical I am of “Do x! It will increase your sales!” For every person I’ve seen who swears by x, there’s another person who says it hasn’t helped her at all. I guess we all just have to do whatever feels like a good fit to us — everything else is just so much more wasted time, and extra stress.