"No, you can't have everything done first!"

Did you ever have a week when too many things are happening at once?  Welcome to the world of the creative person who still has to deal with the pressures of mundane life.

(please note that until this paragraph, I'd kept my inner geek wrestled down and didn't refer to real life as for the "mundies")

This week, I'm working on reading a dear friend's screenplay, editing another friend's manuscript (I'm glad she's either patient or too polite to tell me she's given up on me taking so long), writing a script for a presentation on Saturday, writing a mystery novel, starting a childrens book, researching a financial grant, and taking in webinars to expand my store of knowledge.  And I'm planning an out-of-town trip in the near future.

So I won't be too long here.

It's all too easy to become overwhelmed when you see the enormity of the tasks before you.  While Nature abhors a vaccuum, you and I frequently like the idea of keeping ones duties in manageable amounts.

(Granted, we don't want our lists too short because that means we are running out of paying gigs, right?)

Sometimes, to keep the pressures at bay, you have to make a schedule for yourself and your creative endeavors.  The key to this is prioritization.

First, make a physical list of everything you think needs to be done today before you go to bed/have dinner/make time for yourself/whatever.  This can also include household tasks, cuddling the S.O., watching your fave TV show, whatever is really important to you and must be executed before the end of the work day.  This list must be written out.  This gives it power by making it real.  Besides, mental lists are like verbal promises ... they aren't worth the paper they're written on.  Don't let this list get any longer than nine items.  There's a lot of stuff that can be done.  The list exists to demonstrate what must be accomplished today.

Second, examine the list thoughtfully.  What has a firm deadline and what doesn't?  Which deadline comes sooner?  Is it a paying job or one done for fun or as a favor?  This is where you decide which is more important, love or money.

Third, alphabetize by priority.  Any deadline job might get an A while something for free might get a B.  Reserve C for stuff you've wanted to work on, but it can wait. Obviously, if your list is longer than three items, some letters will be used more than once.  I'm ahead of you here.

Fourth, number each task within each letter grouping.  Look at your A tasks and decide which one needs to be worked on first and which one(s) can wait.  Then do the same with your B groupings and then C.  You will wind up with a 9-item list with a A1 job ... that one should be worked on uber alles if possible.  Then your A2 and A3 jobs, followed by B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, and C3. 

This gives you a roadmap of what requires your attention first.  And if more than one task requires some labor, even if it's not to complete the job but to make some headway, then set a timer for an hour.  That will represent the maximum amount of time you should allow for any given effort, although you may find you wrap up your task in less than sixty minutes.  On the other hand, you may find yourself on a creative roll, in which case you'll reset the timer for another 30-60 minutes.

Feel free to remake this list every working day.  As you remove jobs as they're completed or cancelled -- it happens -- or reprioritized (because deadlines are changed or you realize you didn't give the proper importance to some task), re-do your list.  A priority list shouldn't be used for more than a couple days in a row, really.  If nothing else, re-do the list to ensure that your focus is on the proper jobs in the right order.

As I said, priorities can change for any number of reasons.  Thus, yesterday's C3 task could be your  A1 tomorrow.  Don't panic ... this is perfectly normal and usually means you're getting stuff done and out the door.

Making a priority list is how you forbid the jobs at hand to overwhelm you.  Remember the old saying, "By the yard, it's hard.  But by the inch, it's a cinch."