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Do You Struggle to Find The Time To Be Productive and Get Things Done?

By on September 26, 2014

The question always comes up…How the heck do you find time to work on your web-commuting business when you have all of these other things going on in your life?

Let me tell you a little story about my last week and how I’ve been getting things done.

Right now I’m running an errand for my regular job. I am speaking into the microphone of my iPhone in the notes application to write this post. Talk about multitasking. Talk about finding a way to get 30 minutes to an hour of web-commuting business done.

However, onto my story about this past week. On Monday I was up at 4:30 AM. I left the house at 5 AM. I did not get back from my regular job until about 6pm. I then had to take my dog for a quick check up at the vet. Luckily, the vet is only about five minutes away and I was back home by about 6:45.

On Tuesday I woke up and I left the house at 6:30 AM. I was able to get back home at about 4 PM. Once I got home, I did find a couple hours to work on Sail Loot. I got a few things queued up in Buffer. I worked on a few articles. I found a few pictures to use.

On Wednesday I woke up and left the house at 6:30 AM. I was going to the Georgia Aquarium in order to do a volunteer SCUBA dive. I volunteer there and I help clean the tanks from the inside. I got home at about 10:30 AM. I had to leave for work at 1 PM. In those few hours I had a little bit of time to work on sailloot.com. I also had to make sure that my dog, Barley, got a little bit of exercise. We played fetch. I had a little lunch. There are other things to do in the day that are sometimes more important and more necessary than getting things done on sailloot.com, but we have to find a way.

On Thursday I was up and out of the house at 6:30 AM. I was done with work at 6 PM. From there I had to get to a fantasy football draft with people that I work with. The location for that draft was about an hour away. I did not get home until 10 PM. There was no time to work on anything else that day.

Today is Friday. I have today off. As you can see my work schedule is a little bit hectic, and sometimes unknown. I monitor patients’ nervous systems during brain and spine surgeries – kind of like the buzzer in the game of “Operation”. I go to work when the surgeons that we work with need us for surgery. Some days I work for 12+ hours. Some days I don’t work at all, but I’m almost always on call and have to be available if something comes up.

Below are some pros and cons of my day job.

The pros:

  • It is a great job.
  • It pays well.
  • I do have some free days during the normal work week.
  • Sometimes I only work for 3 to 4 hours of a day.

The cons:

  • I have to be physically present at work. I have to be in the operating room when my surgeon needs me. I can’t web-commute.
  • Sometimes I put in 14 plus hour days.
  • I can’t take an hour for a dentist appointment in the middle of the day and make that hour up later.
  • I get paid per surgery that I monitor. If I don’t work, then I don’t get paid.

You might be asking yourself, why is he complaining about not having time to work on his websites when he’s had most of the day off on Wednesday and all day off on Friday?

The answer is that there are just other things that need to get done that might actually be more important.

All of the experts say that you should make a habit of getting up in the morning and using your first 2 to 3 hours to get the most important things done. The question is, what are those most important things?

My wife and I have one heck of a busy weekend planned. It is Labor Day weekend. This evening we are going to an Umphrey’s McGee show up in Athens, GA. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes away from where we live. There are no hotel rooms available for us to stay in because it is also opening weekend of college football.

We have to make it back home after the show, and then get up the next morning in order to make it to Georgia Tech for their home opener. After all, I do get season tickets to all of Georgia Tech’s home games.

Sunday is my brothers birthday. The plan is to go up to Lake Lanier and spend all day on the lake.

The most important things for me to get done today might not involve Sail Loot. I have to get some exercise, so a 30 minute run is very important. I have to make sure Barley, my dog, gets some exercise. I have to make sure the tickets are printed out for both tonight and tomorrow. I have to make sure that everything is ready for Barley for the weekend. I have to make sure that everything is ready to go for the boat we’re renting on Sunday morning. I have to make sure we have food, water, beer, and of course rum to tailgate with and take to the lake. As soon as my wife gets home from work, the plan is to get in the car and head up to Athens. All of this stuff has to be done before 3pm.

Oh, and I have to run this errand for work.

I was asking myself, how the heck am I going to find time to write a post for Sail Loot today? Speaking into the Notes app and dictating this post while I ran an errand for my regular job was the answer. This is how I am finding time today to work on my web-commuting business.

Find time every day to put a little bit of work into your business, into your website, into your music, into whatever it is that you are working on on the side. There are ways to do it.  If you’re sailing, spend 30 minutes to an hour at the end of every day typing, or dictating, or editing, or posting to social media sites. Whatever it is that you have to do, just make sure that you spend a little bit of time every day doing it.

You might have a much more regular schedule than I do. If so, just schedule an hour or two before or after your day job to work on your most important tasks every day. Use your lunch break to write an article or update social media sites.

If your schedule is erratic, like mine, then use technology to your advantage. I’m using the dictation feature on my iPhone. Use the Voice Recorder app to record a podcast if you need to. There are hundreds of apps, programs, and plug-ins available to make things more efficient these days. Use them.

Do both. Schedule an hour or two every day to work on your Sail Loot business and use technology to get more done in that timeframe.

There is always a process, habit, or tool that can be used to get an hour of work done on your web-commuting business every day. What tools do you use? Have you figured out some good habits for getting things done more efficiently? What are they? Tell us in the comments below!

TeddyJ

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About Teddy

I am a 37 year old that just wants to find a way to make a remote income, gather some Sail Loot and cruise the world! I have been sailing for a couple of years now, but mostly on 10 day trips as vacationing crew. I just recently took sailing to the next level by completing my Basic Keelboat, Basic Cruising, and Bareboat Cruising Certifications! I am also Vice President of a Medical Consulting Company, have a Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, and have taken several Coding, Computing, and Online Business courses. It's time to share what I have learned!