Sunday, December 8, 2019
Last week killed my work schedule. I have been trying to fit all my work hours into my seven-year old’s, Mika, school schedule. Mika was on Thanksgiving break the entire week before last, so I was not doing client work; I had pushed all my client work into this past week. Monday, I was sick and went back to bed. Tuesday, I lost three hours to an unexpected blood draw. Wednesday, I lost the entire day to an unnecessary blood transfusion. Thursday, I was able to work, but Mika was home sick. Friday, I was able to work two hours.
I finally almost caught up with my client work yesterday. I had to work all day on a Saturday to do it. I still have plenty to do next week, but today I can take a breather and catch up on my journal entries. I do not like falling behind. I am a low-stress person and I become a medium-stress person when I see lots of work to do and little time to do it. I do not like medium stress Susanne; she is rather snappy.
Part of why I feel so far behind is my own fault. I thought it would be fun to record Mika opening the 24 days of the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar and actually post them on her YouTube channel this year. We have tried the past two years to accomplish this task and failed miserably. This year I had a plan! We would film the videos in November, and I would have time to get them ready to post on the day they are supposed to be opened in December. (I am so smart!)
We did record all the videos in November. Unfortunately, 13 of the videos were shot the two days before Thanksgiving so the processing of those videos has not even started yet. As of yesterday, I have edited and rendered (saved as a movie file) through day 12. My plan was to have all 25 (we recorded a recap for Christmas Day) videos ready to upload by this past Friday. (I am not feeling so smart now.)
And, of course, it does not stop there. Each video gets a blog post on Mika’s website. Each day, once the video is live, I get the embed code for the video and program a blog post on the website. I did have the good sense to not try to post the videos to her social media feeds each day, although that was part of my original plan. (Occasionally I realize when I have put too much on my plate.)
I have a better plan for next year. Next year we will record the videos in October. (I am so smart!) I will then have the entire month of November for editing and will only need to upload and deal with the blog in December. I am willing to learn from my miscalculations. I will be medium-stress Susanne until Christmas this year and next year I can be low-stress Susanne again.
We all miscalculate occasionally. Life gets in the way and throws a wrench in your plans. I expected to have at least 15 more work hours than I did this past week. That is why I had to work yesterday. I do not want to work Saturdays, but if I had not three of my clients would not have had social media posts going out today or tomorrow and Mika would not have today’s (or tomorrow’s) YouTube video posted on time.
My piece of advice to you is accept miscalculations. My older daughter wants to pay off her house in five years. I think it will take her ten years to pay off her house. The actual number could realistically be seven or eight years. She has made a plan and is working the plan. Wherever the number falls, any one of those numbers is way better than 30 years.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Last week killed my work schedule. I have been trying to fit all my work hours into my seven-year old’s, Mika, school schedule. Mika was on Thanksgiving break the entire week before last, so I was not doing client work; I had pushed all my client work into this past week. Monday, I was sick and went back to bed. Tuesday, I lost three hours to an unexpected blood draw. Wednesday, I lost the entire day to an unnecessary blood transfusion. Thursday, I was able to work, but Mika was home sick. Friday, I was able to work two hours.
I finally almost caught up with my client work yesterday. I had to work all day on a Saturday to do it. I still have plenty to do next week, but today I can take a breather and catch up on my journal entries. I do not like falling behind. I am a low-stress person and I become a medium-stress person when I see lots of work to do and little time to do it. I do not like medium stress Susanne; she is rather snappy.
Part of why I feel so far behind is my own fault. I thought it would be fun to record Mika opening the 24 days of the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar and actually post them on her YouTube channel this year. We have tried the past two years to accomplish this task and failed miserably. This year I had a plan! We would film the videos in November, and I would have time to get them ready to post on the day they are supposed to be opened in December. (I am so smart!)
We did record all the videos in November. Unfortunately, 13 of the videos were shot the two days before Thanksgiving so the processing of those videos has not even started yet. As of yesterday, I have edited and rendered (saved as a movie file) through day 12. My plan was to have all 25 (we recorded a recap for Christmas Day) videos ready to upload by this past Friday. (I am not feeling so smart now.)
And, of course, it does not stop there. Each video gets a blog post on Mika’s website. Each day, once the video is live, I get the embed code for the video and program a blog post on the website. I did have the good sense to not try to post the videos to her social media feeds each day, although that was part of my original plan. (Occasionally I realize when I have put too much on my plate.)
I have a better plan for next year. Next year we will record the videos in October. (I am so smart!) I will then have the entire month of November for editing and will only need to upload and deal with the blog in December. I am willing to learn from my miscalculations. I will be medium-stress Susanne until Christmas this year and next year I can be low-stress Susanne again.
We all miscalculate occasionally. Life gets in the way and throws a wrench in your plans. I expected to have at least 15 more work hours than I did this past week. That is why I had to work yesterday. I do not want to work Saturdays, but if I had not three of my clients would not have had social media posts going out today or tomorrow and Mika would not have today’s (or tomorrow’s) YouTube video posted on time.
My piece of advice to you is accept miscalculations. My older daughter wants to pay off her house in five years. I think it will take her ten years to pay off her house. The actual number could realistically be seven or eight years. She has made a plan and is working the plan. Wherever the number falls, any one of those numbers is way better than 30 years.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.