Paperwork

[mousme]

I thought that becoming a dispatcher would reduce the amount of paperwork I had to do at any given time. More fool me, as it turns out.

I am almost all caught up on the stuff I left unfinished before my trip. I finished the meeting minutes at 20:30 or thereabouts yesterday, and I just finished amending my time sheets and filling out compensation forms. The plus side is that the net result of filling in time sheets and compensation forms is that I will soon be receiving a visit from the Overtime Fairy in the form of a bunch of cheques in my name. Whee! No extravagant amounts this time (like the time I charged for a full 46 hours of overtime in one pay period), but a nice little "oomph" to the bank account nonetheless.

I have found out (not that this comes as a great surprise, mind) that on weeks when I'm working day shift, I have to make a point of going to bed quite early (21:00 or earlier, even), lest I oversleep in the mornings. For the past two days I've been getting to bed too late, and I've overslept twice. I've managed to be at work on time, but I don't like rushing that much in the morning: it unbalances me for the better part of the day.

I'm having a little trouble finding my motivation, as well. I have a bunch of projects and especially things to do before the Big Move (which will happen presumably in the late summer or early autumn), but can't seem to get myself to do it. I have always been a master procrastinator, but have yet to master the art of structured procrastination, which seems like a pretty good use of my time, if only I could get around to it. :P

As the saying went, back when I was at university: Procrastination is an art form.

Mostly what I'm lacking motivation for is the whole "housekeeping" thing. Which is weird, since I'm actually feeling kind of enthused by the idea of having a clean home. I just haven't quite got the knack of coming home and getting right down to tidying. Mostly when I get home I just want to flake out with my cats and my computer (or a DVD, or a book, or whatever). In theory, I know that motivation follows action. It's just... the action part that's proving trickier than I thought. Maybe it's just demand-resistance. What do I know?

So, given that my flist is generally more functional in these matters than I am, how do you handle this sort of thing? Are you one of those depressing people whose motto is along the lines of "Just Do It," or do you have a system that works for you that you can actually describe? This isn't necessarily about cleaning, btw: it's about work, or chores, or anything that doesn't qualify as entirely "leisure" (i.e. implies some sort of obligation).

Inquiring minds want to know. :)

Comments

[curtana.livejournal.com]

I find it helps to make the tasks easy and the consequences for not doing them annoying. As an example, at our old apartment we had room for three laundry baskets in our closet. We would let them fill to overflowing before we'd even begin to tackle laundry - which, admittedly, at that place was a pain in the ass, requiring lugging the baskets to the building next door and hoping none of the other tenants were using the one washer and one dryer - and paying by the load, of course. Here, we don't have that much room for hiding laundry baskets. We have one basket which we keep on top of the washing machine. When that's full, there's no where else to put dirty clothes apart from on the floor, and so we wash the laundry, which just requires moving the basket off the top of the washer and tossing in the clothes. Task = easy, consequences for not doing it = annoying, job = done :) If the vacuum is hard to get to, or there's no convenient place to plug it in, it will seem like a huge annoying job and won't get used, so find a place to store it where it's easily accessible, or get something that will make the job easier, whether that's a carpet sweeper, a swiffer, a dirt devil... whatever better fits your space and lifestyle.

Also, anytime you can combine two jobs, do it! Wash a few dishes or clean out your fridge while keeping an eye on dinner as it cooks. Pick up some clutter as you're picking out a DVD to watch. Get some spray-on shower cleaner and remember to use it after you hop out of the tub. If you're on your way to the kitchen, take those dirty dishes with you. Etc.

(PS - I think you overestimate the level of functionality most of us have in these matters ;) I'm not especially neat or efficient and I don't spend hours cleaning my house even though I'm home in in all day at present. You may notice if your apartment isn't pristine, but your friends probably don't, and even if they do, they're not going to care unless it reaches the point of "OH GOD IT SMELLS LIKE SOMETHING DIED IN YOUR APARTMENT." People just want to hang out with you, not run their finger along the top of your bookcases checking for dust, and if you wait until your place is perfect to have them over, it'll never happen ;)