A Method to the Madness

So there was a moment this past week when I found myself with nothing to do. My son was with my parents. My daughter was sleeping. My husband was at a football game. The house was clean; the dog was walked; my deadlines were filed. And so…it was just silence. And me, wondering just what the heck I’m supposed to do with my downtime. I’d surfed the internet, read the paper, and looked around my apartment, and thought, “What now?”

It goes without saying, I suppose, that I’m not used to such solitary moments. Working moms (and dads, perhaps) out there might relate. I am in constant motion – wiping grubby hands, preparing three different dinners (one for my daughter, one for my son, one for us), cajoling my son onto the potty, squeezing in a workout, frantically typing out magazine articles….you get the point. So I always sort of giggle when people ask me, as they do often, how I juggle everything so well. Sure, I juggle, but it’s a rare moment when, as was the case last week, I don’t have a ball in the air. So whether this makes me crazy or just makes me really efficient (or maybe some combination of the two), here are my tips to keeping everything in order so that it doesn’t all come crashing down:

1) Make lists. Check them twice. I’ve mentioned this before on my blog, but there is no way that I could get done what I manage to get done without lists. In fact, I’ve noticed that the days and weeks that I don’t make lists are often wash-outs. I muddle around at the computer or in my office or throughout my day because I don’t have a firm guide as to what I need to get done. So I try to make a list at the start of every day and am always euphoric to cross something off. That thrill alone keeps me chugging along.

2) Ask for help. I’ve said this before to, but I have outstanding childcare. If you’re a mom who works from home, get it, however you can. Part of this is logistical – it’s very difficult to write well with kids screaming in the background and demanding both your time and attention. But more than that, I think it’s imperative to treat this gig like any other “real” job, and you’d never bring your kids to an office with you. By mentally establishing that you’re “working” while your kids are being looked after, you’ll become more efficient and more focused.

3) Work backwards. I’ve never understood people who are late. Because being on time is the easiest thing in the world, as long as you assess how long every task will take you leading up to your appointed time. I do the same thing with my workday. My nanny leaves at 6:00. I know that between when I drop my son off at preschool and when my nanny leaves for the day, I have to, among other things, walk the dog, research my articles, revise my fiction, get to the gym, answer emails and run random errands. So I start at 6:00pm and I schedule my day backwards – I go to the gym at 5:00, I walk the dog at 4:00, I work on my fiction from 4:00 until 2:00…you get the idea. Just like any other deadline, 6:00 is MY deadline to accomplish everything that I need to, and by laying out the various time slots for everything – and using realistic gauges for how long each will take – I’m assured that I’ll have gotten everything done that I need to by day’s end.

4) Take time off. Look, at 6:00, I’m done. I might answer a random email from my agent or a frantic editor, but that’s my time for my kids and for me to take a breather. I’ve found that it’s critical for me to turn my brain off and refresh itself – if I keep cranking at all hours and all the time, my work suffers. So there’s no shame for me in occasionally blowing off a day or sinking into the couch with my husband at night. Taking time off gives me a chance to reboot, and it allows me to return refreshed and re-energized the next day.

5) Learn to say no. When I was just starting out, I took on any and all projects. It was a necessary evil – I needed to build my portfolio, and the checks came in steadily. In time, I took more chances and drifted from pain-in-the-ass clients who word rate wasn’t worth my time or whose demands made me insane. (Surely, you know clients with similar shades.) These days, I’ve whittled down my clients to people and magazine with whom I enjoy working. I realize that not everyone is in this position, but consider this: the time you’re giving to that horrid client who is sucking you lifeless and wreaking havoc on your schedule is time away from a better, newer client you could be pitching. Streamline, if you can. It often opens up new doors that you wouldn’t expect. Saying no also encompasses more than just work. Say no to the family member who thinks that you can be her errand girl because “you don’t have a real job.” Say no to the mom at your kid’s school who wants you to helm the auction because you just “dabble in writing.” Say no! Try it, I swear it makes everything so much easier. It gives you more time to pursue what you want to truly be doing, and that, ultimately, is the key to keeping all of your balls afloat.

Photo Credit: Flickr’s Arnold Pouteau

Allison Winn Scotch

Allison Winn Scotch is the bestselling author of six novels, including IN TWENTY YEARS, THE THEORY OF OPPOSITES, and TIME OF MY LIFE. Her seventh novel, BETWEEN ME AND YOU, will be released on January 9th, 2018. In addition to fiction, she pens celebrity profiles for a variety of magazines, which justifies her pop culture obsession and occasionally lends to awesome Facebook status updates. She lives in Los Angeles with her family. For more about her and her books, go to allisonwinn.com or follow her on Twitter at @aswinn.

www.allisonwinn.com/