Stilettos, Stoli & Scribbles ~ Served With A Twist

Last week, in preparation for my turn at the blog, I posed a question on Facebook*, that plagues our collective here more than we care to admit.

I’m working on a blog post this week about respecting our time. Tell me about your experiences, good and bad. Cramming for a test? Procrastinating a deadline? Outside influences disregarding YOUR time. The coworker who always wants to chitty chat over the cubicle wall. Family/friends who abuse doors (literal and figurative) without locks or start talking/texting/calling as soon as you open a word doc for the next chapter. *cough* I have a suspicion about this but will wait to draw my conclusion.

As you can imagine the general consensus was, if WE respect our time and space others will too. The irony is I drew my proverbial line, prepared the idea, gathered input and feedback and yet….here we are a week and two days later. Why? The sand shifted. My line moved. Oh, sure it moved for perfectly good excuses. Somethings and/or someone’s needs and/or desires came first.

Regular martyr aren’t I???

Admittedly, some crisis cannot be avoided. Sometimes we MUST put our plans on hold. But…and you know what Lucius** says “nothing matters before the but”… how often do we ALLOW interference and interruption? Shall I confess the number of times I’ve chosen to CLEAN rather than write even though I’ve declared these hours High Holy Sacred Writing Time? Telling myself and anyone who dared ask how the writing went today, “we can’t function with dirty floors and window sills.” Window sills? Really?

Or how many times I’ve skipped a work out or grabbed fast food because I promised I’d do XYZ for the church or the family or insert random act here, and there just isn’t enough time. (Yeah, it sounds like bullshit to me too)

How often do we make excuses and ALLOW our time, our line in the sand, for pursuing goals and dreams to be ignored or moved because holding firm is just too damn hard? Too damn scary? Who will judge me for dropping everything for my kids?  Who can blame me for devoting time to the garden & home or church or a job or, or, or…

BUT if I commit to fitness and the results are mediocre or not what I hoped for?? Or write a book that stinks or simply doesn’t sell?  OUCH!

EVERY successful writer has one hard and fast rule, and this rule can be found in just about every industry.

Make writing/working time sacred***. A non-negotiable on the daily calendar.

EVERY fitness guru will tell you.

Schedule work outs and make them unbreakable appointments.

These keys to success have the same foundation. Respect. Respect our time, our effort, our creativity and demand it from others. Draw the lines in the sand and even when the sand shifts, the lines don’t.

The challenge this week is to draw our lines!  Set those non-negotiables for ourselves on the calendar. It may mean waking up a little early. It may mean someone has to fold their own clothes or, figure out their own life plan. That’s OK! It may mean there’s a weed in the garden and some dust bunnies. It may also mean that a project gets our full attention, that the manuscript gets written, or that our exercise program gets the investment we deserve.

What is your line in the sand this week? What are you going to keep on the front burner no matter what?

*Let’s be Friends, Follow Us Here

**Lucius Chaerea, hero of Eden’s Fall. Available at your favorite retail bookseller.

***Forget Multi-tasking, try mono-tasking