One of the difficulties of getting through a standard day when you’re feeling under the weather (whether it’s mood-wise, pain-wise, or motivation-wise), is that there is always a lot of things that need to get done AND whilst there might be a lot of time to get it done, that time somehow, always, seems, to, slip, away…
I grew up with “to do lists” and I developed a whole raft of nifty short-handed ways of using them when I was working as a project manager on big construction projects. I was so uptight about it, that I used to draw my own circle in the front of each nominated task, and I would only color it in with quarters, or halves, if the job was started but not finished… “Ah yes”, I can hear you thinking, “there’s nothing like a long row of partially-shaded circles to keep you motivated (…or not)”.
As I’ve become more of a “sicko” over the last couple of years, the traditional tick-boxes (or semi-shaded circles) do nothing but turn me into a Debbie Downer. My days aren’t predictable enough to assume that I have an 8 hour work day – it might be 2 or 3 or none. Seeing so many empty shapes, so many days in a row, makes me sad.
Instead, I try to do what I call “chunking”. I decide I’m going to write a blog post – and I give myself a chunk of time to do it – say 30 to 60 minutes. When that time is up, I move to the next task. If I have to iron school uniforms, I assign another chunk of time to get it done. I usually know how long something’s going to take, so I know that I can get it done in the allocated time – I just have to stay focused… I have to stay on task.
The advantage of this approach is that I don’t get overwhelmed by a long list that never gets any shorter, AND by forcing myself to stay focused for a short period of time, I actually get more things done.
Imagine how happy I was to discover that my “chunking” method seems to have an official, much more professional-sounding, name: “Segment Intending”.
I came across the term when I was visiting a blog called Aloee Wellness – the post is here: Segment Intending: Your Key to Conscious Creation.
Now, to be fair, what the blog was actually promoting was more of a form of manifesting and visualization. The blog post suggests you ‘segment’ your day into early morning, the commute to work, before lunchtime, after lunch, the commute home, and so on. Then, each morning, you assign a task to that segment, rather than a specific time. (Let’s pretend) I’m going to get the ironing done before I leave for work in the morning, for example, or I’m going to write a blog post in my lunch break (and go against the rules of mindful eating!)
The post then goes a step further than just assigning a time-location. They also recommend setting an intention; “I’m going to write a blog post that will make people smile”. They then suggest you really feel that intended outcome, visualize yourself smiling as the blog post is complete. Visualize all your readers smiling too. If you are going to do the ironing (although I’m not sure if their idea was intended for anything so basic and boring) then you might tell yourself, “I have 30 minutes to do these school uniforms, please allow me to stay focused on the job so that they might all be clean and crisp and hanging up in the closet before lunch so that the week ahead will run smoothly (and my family will make me appear as if I am at least partially capable of ‘keeping house’).”
The blog author suggests that you can even plan the day ahead, journalling your intentions at the start and effectively manifesting them into being for the rest of the day. I worry that the journalling ahead of time heads back towards the traditional to do list, but with intentional manifesting included. I can’t see why you can’t simply do the tasks in installments throughout the day, manifesting at the start of each new task.
Whilst looking for a picture to use for this post, I came across the fruit cut into segments. It’s a neat way of incorporating the wellness idea of “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” whilst also visually reminding us that no matter which way you cut up an apple, be it big or small slices, you still have the same amount of apple. You can eat half now and half later… or one-eight every ten minutes until it’s all eaten up… either way, you eat a whole apple. We all get the same 24 hours a day to divide up as we please (or as we can).
Finding the time for tasks is not always easy when you’re struggling with your health – but know that the only way things can get done is if you try… you can’t finish something if you don’t at least start.
This post hasn’t really gone the way I intended – I feel bad because I don’t think I’ve done justice to Aloee Wellness’s post. There’s also a ‘tone’ to it that has crept into the lines that shouldn’t be there… I’m all for “progress over perfection” but the real-me, the deep-down-me still prefers it when things are as CLOSE to perfect as possible before they leave my life and enter yours.
BUT that kind of illustrates an important point: chunky-time is clunky.
When you set yourself 30 minutes to write a blog post, even when you visualize radiant sunbeams illuminating the words, the warmth of which passes from the page to the readers, filling their hearts and souls with glowing hope… sometimes the time you get (or give yourself) just doesn’t fit the task at hand. “The time ‘aint timing”, as my teenage daughters would say.
That said, here’s hoping your clunky-chunky-time is sweetly-segmented and intentionally-intended… you deserve it!
Take care getting things done, Linda x
[Disclaimer – the wellness website I linked to is a business – I have no affiliation with their company, and can’t give you any advice or recommendations about their products or services – please ensure that you speak to your own healthcare professionals before making any changes to your healthcare plan. Cheers.]
The Mindful Migraine 
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