{"id":3872,"date":"2015-09-22T14:34:14","date_gmt":"2015-09-22T18:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?p=3872"},"modified":"2015-09-22T14:34:14","modified_gmt":"2015-09-22T18:34:14","slug":"one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"One<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have been juggling a lot of balls around here lately\u2014as I know many of you are doing as well once school starts.<\/p>\n

The funny thing is that when I had all littles, and I didn\u2019t have a lot of kids \u201cin homeschooling,\u201d I was swamped. When I had six kids in homeschool at one time, I was swamped. And now that my youngest only does college his senior year of high school, I am swamped (with writing and teaching cottage classes).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I am chasing my tail on some Meaningful Composition<\/em> deadlines in order to have the fourth through tenth grade books for both semesters done for the spring sales\u2014and to get into some new catalogs and be ready for the convention season next year.<\/p>\n

We are all busy…always. Seriously, when one thing gets taken out of the schedule, something else goes in it. ALWAYS.<\/p>\n

People often ask me for the bottom line: How can I get organized? How can I get thing done? How can I be more productive?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I could say a lot about this (and I do…just search the blog for organization as easy as ABC,<\/a> home management,<\/a> dailies<\/a>, terrible tasks<\/a>, efficiency <\/a>{podcasts}, and more!), but there is one thing that I consistently do to stay on track: I act like a student and do what is \u201cdue\u201d next!<\/p>\n

I can be so overcome with my to do list. I can be incredibly overwhelmed and feel like I cannot turn around. I can truly have so many things screaming at me that I can\u2019t process how to order them. And in each and every situation, I do the exact same thing: whatever is due next.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I stop, take a deep breath, and look at the rest of that day first\u2014what is it that has to be done. These are non-optionals\u2014I could tell everybody to fend for themselves for dinner or pull a casserole out of the freezer if needed; I could skip the laundry today (though I don\u2019t); I could trade dish days with one of the boys (I do!). But what is coming up?<\/p>\n

Kids coming for games later tonight? My \u201coffice table\u201d has to be cleared by then. (And if I don\u2019t want somebody else stacking my stuff in disorganized piles everywhere, I want to be the one to do it!) Okay, that is what I will do first.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next thing that is due is a podcast episode that my tech girl will run tomorrow. Okay, after the table is cleared, I will go make the podcast episode.<\/p>\n

Next thing….I leave for classes at 7:15 tomorrow. I still need copies. The supply tubs need refilled. A parent needs answered. And a small stack of student papers has to be edited. Those things will be next.<\/p>\n

I try not to do something that is coming for Wednesday. I try not to get on the computer and do something else (answer messages that are not \u201cdue\u201d or post some FB statutes or read about Disney World! \ud83d\ude42 ).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whatever is DUE next is what I do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once I get ahead to where I am not chasing the things that are due in the next twenty-four hours, then I can breathe and do regular things and not stress so much….and I go back to my normal way of getting things done (all the other posts at the blog!).<\/p>\n

I even verbalize this to my husband. He will say, \u201cWhat do you absolutely have to do before you can go to bed tonight?\u201d And I tell him what I just told you. (He can help me stay on track if I need it!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My dream is to not always be doing whatever is \u201cdue\u201d the next day. To get ahead of the game and be working a few days out. And that often happens in the summer when I am not teaching\u2014and it is a great feeling.<\/p>\n

But when I am not in that place, I just do whatever is NEXT!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pin this post!<\/em><\/h3>\n

\"One<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks to Scrappy, Sticky, Inky, Mess<\/em> for the free library card download that I used in the picture above!  Check them out here <\/a>\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I have been juggling a lot of balls around here lately\u2014as I know many of you are doing as well once school starts. The funny thing is that when I had all littles, and I didn\u2019t have a lot of kids \u201cin homeschooling,\u201d I was swamped. When I had six kids in homeschool at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[627,598],"tags":[840,841,53,839,837,838,836],"yoast_head":"\nOne Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity - Character Ink<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity - Character Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  I have been juggling a lot of balls around here lately\u2014as I know many of you are doing as well once school starts. The funny thing is that when I had all littles, and I didn\u2019t have a lot of kids \u201cin homeschooling,\u201d I was swamped. When I had six kids in homeschool at […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Character Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-22T18:34:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5686\/21011032183_4b2af2d19e_z.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/\",\"name\":\"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity - Character Ink\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-22T18:34:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-22T18:34:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/\",\"name\":\"Character Ink\",\"description\":\"Home of the Language Lady & Cottage Classes!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64\",\"name\":\"Donna\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Donna\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/author\/cqlalady\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity - Character Ink","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity - Character Ink","og_description":"  I have been juggling a lot of balls around here lately\u2014as I know many of you are doing as well once school starts. The funny thing is that when I had all littles, and I didn\u2019t have a lot of kids \u201cin homeschooling,\u201d I was swamped. When I had six kids in homeschool at […]","og_url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/","og_site_name":"Character Ink","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks","article_published_time":"2015-09-22T18:34:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5686\/21011032183_4b2af2d19e_z.jpg"}],"author":"Donna","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Donna","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/","url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/","name":"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity - Character Ink","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-09-22T18:34:14+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-22T18:34:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/one-thing-that-makes-all-of-the-difference-in-productivity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"One Thing That Makes All of the Difference in Productivity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/","name":"Character Ink","description":"Home of the Language Lady & Cottage Classes!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64","name":"Donna","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Donna"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks"],"url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/author\/cqlalady\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3872"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3875,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3872\/revisions\/3875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}