Happy Women's History Month! Happy Black History Month!! (in arrears). Happy felicitations for all the good things that have been happening since the last time I blogged.

 

As I type, I am hiding out in the guest bathroom on my break, in order to get a breather. Problem is, I am hiding from myself and my home-desk.

 

One year later, we’re all still working from home, no thanks to the Rona. Sometimes, it just seems that the work is in a never ending loop.

 

Which was why I kind of chuckled to myself when I was asked recently:

 

How do you do it?

 

I’ll not be immodest; I do have A LOT I handle simultaneously.

 

There is work. There is family and other very demanding personal responsibilities. Then there is the TON of volunteering I engage in, which sometimes feels like a lot more than all the others combined.

 

Throw in the pressure of the pandemic, and having to consciously find ways to deal with cabin fever and keep the pounds off.

 

Yet… your girl has time to binge on her Netflix and Disney+ shows. (Currently addicted to Outlander, which in all honesty, is a ‘soft’ version of GoT, with a side of Mills & Boon)

 

“How do you do it??”

 

The Nigerian in me craved to fake-modestly respond with a smile, a casual shrug of my shoulders, and our usual “Na God o”. But truth is I have had to very intentionally device coping strategies for multi-tasking, since I got thrown into the law life about 14 years ago.

 

I have found my coping strategies very useful as my life got busier, particularly with this pandemic, and I’m pleased to share some of them with you below (You’re welcome 😉)

 

1. Daily To-Do Lists: Sounds like the proverbial over-flogged horse?? I know you’ve heard this a million times… but it cannot be emphasized enough.

 

A to-do list helps you to actually visualize the uncountable things you have to do in your head. Having written it down, you can see that some things may not necessarily even need to be done.

 

I write down my to-do list for the next day, the night before just as I am going to bed. This is so that I do not wake-up the next day, running around like a headless chicken; very busy doing everything but achieving nothing.

 

It is important to point out that you must have a two-way to-do list: your Work to-do, and your Personal to-do (which may include exercise and tv time). If like me, volunteering also takes a lot of your time, make a third list: your Volunteering to-do.

 

As you achieve each task, physically cross out the task. It does something to your psyche, boosts you and helps you realise you’re making progress.

 

You can begin with the smaller tasks, and work your way up to the more difficult and time-demanding tasks. It is ok if you’re not able to finish everything on your list for the day, in so far as you are satisfied with the progress made.

 

2. Prioritize

 

It is one thing to have a list of things to do. It is another skills-set entirely to know how to prioritize them.

 

I always start with tasks that are more urgent and/or important, and work down the list to the ones less urgent or important. That way, if I have carryover tasks, nobody is getting in trouble.

 

From time to time, the priority for each task may change, depending on the particular demand, and that’s ok.

 

3. Have a plan. Stick with it

 

It’s also important to develop a method to the madness; i.e. a plan for balancing and executing your activities.

 

If you tend more to the roll-out-from-the-bed-and-roll-with-it approach, you risk absence of sustainability in successfully balancing all the many activities. You’d need to figure out how to craft your daily activities.

 

Example: if (like me pre-pandemic) you are a late riser, and there just happens to be a gym in your office building, you could plan your daily exercise after work, or during your lunch break. This of course would mean being conscious of having your last pre-exercise meal, three hours prior to the workout.

 

(Or so Dr. Google says)

 

If you’re a Madame in multi-tasking, by all means, schedule tasks you can undertake simultaneously, to save time for others. If you work better by facing one task at a time (which also has its own advantage), you should do just that.

 

While it is important to stick to the plan as much as possible, be nimble enough to adapt to situations when spanners are thrown into your daily routine.

 

4. Avoid unnecessary pressure/last minute madness

 

From my past life as a litigation lawyer, if there is one common thread of the litigation dance, it is the never-ending struggle to file processes barely minutes before the deadline.

 

Like… everybody just sits around like Queen Beyonce in Black is King, sipping pina colada UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE DEADLINE.

 

Waiting till the very last minute to execute tasks not only poses the risk of a PLETHORA of mistakes, but has a ripple effect on other planned tasks.

 

Whenever I have a task to do, irrespective of how far the deadline is, I begin as soon as I get the work. I begin to do the work in little bits and pieces way ahead of time.

 

The days when my to-do list is rather light, I fight off the spell Mr. Bezos has cast on us all and the urge to kill time on the streets of Amazon, while facing tasks with deadlines that seem so far away in the future.

 

If I have a blog-post to put up, and I am dead-pressed for time, you could easily find me typing and editing on my phone in between bus-rides, or during my self-allotted bathroom break.

 

(Like this one)

 

What this does is that as the said deadline approaches, I am not pressed for time, or facing unnecessary pressure, and pulling unnecessary all-nighters. Hence, my other tasks do not have to suffer.

 

Thus, my ‘balanced’ life.

 

5. Delegate, Delegate, Delegate

 

If delegation was a Kingdom, I could very easily be its Queen.

 

I have learnt to not concern myself with frying little fish, if I can afford it. Once I have capable people working with me, I share my vision/thoughts for a task, and leave them to run with it.

 

No, I am not a micro-manager.

 

Of course, this in turn requires you must have invested in and trained your delegates such that you trust their work output. Particularly if you play for Team Perfectionism, and want everything done to a T.

 

But delegate, you must. Otherwise, you’d drown under the load of never-ending work.

 

(After which having mourned you [for say, two days?] over a bowl of jollof rice, someone else quietly steps in to take over)

 

6. Social Media Juggernaut??

 

I know. With the never-ending red light notifications, from the never-ending social media apps, how does one even get a moment to drink water??

 

So you thought, “let me quickly put up my Tik-Tok video”. Boom, 7 hours gone!

 

Just like that.

 

Managing your time on social media requires careful and intentional planning (there is a WHOLE post I will put up for it, another day).

 

For me, the bottom-line is that if you do not absolutely rely on social media to sell your craft, you should consciously limit your social media time to a fixed amount of time. 45 minutes? 1 hour?? You are the best person to determine how much time per day would not affect your achieving your daily goals.

 

One thing that helps me, I have ALL my social media notifications off (ummm… except emails). That way, I only see notifications, when I actually enter into a particular app, within my social media time.

 

I stay conscious of how much time I spend on each app, make posts when I want to, briefly scroll through each street… and I’m out. On most days, I spend about a total of 10 - 15 minutes maximum on each social media app. The rest of the days, it far less time spent (if any at all)

 

Unless you’re a person whose craft requires interacting with the public through all channels available, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT ON EVERY SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNEL.

 

(Sorry for shouting)

 

7. Create Boundaries.

 

In this pandemic world, everyday seems like MoWeTueFriSuThuSatdaaaaay.

 

Exactly!

 

Everyday seems like the last, and the next simultaneously. Especially if you were blessed enough to have a job where you could work from home. And the whole home could seem like the office.

 

You have to consciously create parameters which determine your work space and time

 

In my case, I have adopted work stations, outside of which I do not take my laptop to do any work.

 

And somebody has to be near dying to get me to look at my work laptop over the weekends or a holiday (except it is only the kiss of life from my particular lips that could resuscitate them, please take them to the hospital)

 

You’re not likely to see a response from that work email sent by 1.09am on Saturday, until Monday morning.

 

I literally just chill over the weekend, and do other fun stuff like church, shopping, and catch up on sleep when I can.

 

8. Just say no?

 

You know how referees are asked to state a ‘weakness’ you have when giving you glowing references.

 

I once had a referee give me feedback that I never said no to all work piled on me, and I could carry on a bit too much at the same time.

 

That was in my past life, and that feedback was my wake-up call.

 

I have since then come to terms with the fact that work nor dey finish. The moment my plate begins to show signs of being full, despite how sad I may feel turning down someone, I have learnt to respectfully decline added work or responsibilities.

 

As we say in Nigeria, I cannot coman kill myself, and die.

 

9. Find your de-stressor. Hold it tightly.

 

You need to create time for something which helps you relax, and empty the stress of the week.

 

For me, sometimes it’s writing on the blog, or in my personal journal.

 

Recently however, my go-to has been shelling & eating roasted peanuts, while binging on my favourite TV show of the period.

 

I plan hangout dates with myself, where I look forward to just catching up on shows that make me laugh. I also leverage technology, and look forward to connecting with my siblings from time to time. The joyful chaos in the background of their near-approaching teenage-years kids is welcome music to my ears and my soul. 

 

See?? It’s not rocket science after all.

 

You too can balance everything you have to handle. And if you fail to remember anything else, remember to know when to pull the plug, just say no, put your foot up on the sofa and chill.

 

Your mental health is paramount always, especially in this pandemic season.

 

Stay winning. 😊

 

Paz,

 

Meg.

Photo credit: Alexey Turenkov at unsplash.com