Balancing Act

If you look closely you’ll be able to see the sign on my forehead which says ‘sucker for punishment’. I’m one of those people who seems to take on more tasks than I have hours in the day. It’s a self imposed affliction, but I think that it must also be genetic because my mother is one of the busiest retired people I know.

The last few months have obviously been fairly quiet at work as I’ve mentioned previously, so I have been steadily adding to my task list to stop myself going stir crazy. Mind you, other people have also been very good at adding to my list. I find myself involved in tasks that I’m not really sure that I want to do because I also suffer from that common ailment called ‘I can’t say no’.

I think the balancing act is now getting slightly unstable and I will have to find a way to form my lips around the word ‘no’. Monday is decision day for the project I am involved in at work, it goes before the Board of Directors for approval and there’s quiet optimism that we should get approval. If we get the go ahead on Monday then life is going to get very busy, very quickly. Long hours and lots of work are on the near horizon.

Further to that, if we get the go ahead for the project I would really like to launch a weekly blog (separate from this one) to write about the process. I looked for one when I first started on this project and could find nothing along the lines of what I wanted, but we’ll see how much free time I have. I have also recently become involved with another blog which has 25 writers from 9 different countries and starting next month I will be posting there once or twice a month also.

See, if you look closely, the ‘sucker for punishment’ sign is shining brightly right about now.

Combined with all of that, my family have demands on my time and attention which I would never begrudge them and I am also trying to finish my book. The book has stalled at just under 60,000 words at the moment. I’m still writing in chunks but not as concerted as it has been for the last few months.

Many of the tasks on my list are things that I want to do for me and I will not relinquish, however other tasks have come from work and are not related to my job but I’ve been put forward to manage them because I have a ‘talent’ for organisation. I’m not sure that it’s so much a talent as a pain in the butt at times.

So today I am practicing the words ‘no’ and ‘I’m too busy’ and fingers crossed the project gets approval on Monday because it will provide me with a legitimate excuse for saying I'm busy (I can't help it - I'm a sap who doesn't like saying no) Because, as much as I write about suddenly having too much to do – I’m a slave to the balancing act and it makes life so much more interesting when I'm constantly on the go.

It sure beats the last few months when I was moaning of a lack of things to do, it’s the old saying it doesn’t rain, it pours and here comes the deluge…..

So how do you manage the balancing act and do you also suffer from the ‘I can’t say no’ ailment?

Cheers, Fi

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy ~ Dale Carnegie