Pruning

Recently i rejected someone's offer to be involved in certain projects. In my email reply to him, i tried to explain my reason:

"Before the start of this year, i have made the conscious choice to stay with some activities and drop others, so that i will not be all over the place when Ethan is preparing for exams. i must say that this decision has been helpful in keeping me focused. Come next year, there are some things that i would like to explore and i hope to be able to explore them without having to make decisions based on responsibilities of (these projects). Hope i'm making some sense here."


i have made small steps to prune my life :) and i like the results of it. For instance, i know i wouldn't be able to train for long distance run this year, and i didn't. So no guilt there :) In the past, i used to wonder how in the world some of my friends can handle so many things concurrently and then conclude that something is wrong with my time management. i know of one working mummy who holds a senior position in a bank which requires travelling, has 3 kids, always coordinating never-ending school events, and posts in FB (so includes responding to comments) everyday. Super mum! :) But now, i hardly think of it this way. While i admire her and always thank her for her efforts in school events despite her busy schedule, i don't aspire to be like her. i don't want the word "busy" to define me.


Last semester, my students did a time management assignment in which they need to track their usage of time by the hour over 3 to 7 days. Many of them have problems in monitoring cos they can't separate their activities which they claimed to be doing concurrently. Obviously, they are online (FB, cybergaming, online "window" shopping, watching youtube, chatting etc) while revising or doing their assignments. And they say they have no time :)

Multitasking is over-rated. At this stage of my life (mid lah), it's not about how well i can fit those activities into a day/week/month. It's about what activities i want to be engaged in in the first place.And saying no when i should :)