Out of Time

Why do we have all these “time saving gadgets” but we don’t seem to have enough time in a day? I thought when I moved from dial-up to high speed that I would spend less time surfing the web. Wrong! I spent more time surfing the web because I didn’t have to wait for pages to load or programs to download.

I found myself sitting at the computer for hours and the things I once enjoyed doing didn’t get done or when I did do them, it was done in haste. I was neglecting responsibilities, paper work was piling up, mail went unopened. I was not myself. I felt rushed, impatient, envious, always playing catch up trying to make up for the time I spent on the computer. My life hadn’t changed much, but what I was doing with my time had, I wasn’t using it wisely.

Even though I came up with some lively excuses to cover what I was really doing, in the back of my mind I knew what the culprit was and realized I had to get a grip on how I spent my time. I had other responsibilities and obligations that required my time and attention they just weren’t getting. It was easy to say “I didn’t have time”, but my truth was my time was being mismanaged.

I used to wonder how some people seem to get so many things accomplished in a day or even a week. What I’ve found is that 9 times out of 10, they have a schedule and they stick to it. To some, I guess a schedule is like a budget, it’s too restrictive and it doesn’t allow room for spontaneity. That could be true, but hours of unscheduled time doesn’t lead to productivity either, often times it leads to nothing.

Personally, I like the feeling of accomplishment and if I leave things to chance, chances are they won’t get done. I’ve been working on a schedule, trying to find a mix that doesn’t leave me feeling overwhelmed and here’s my work in progress:

1. I make a list of all the things I need or want to do
2. I print a calendar for the month
3. I pencil in my top 10 “must-do’s” on a day that task could be done (I spread them out during the week (i.e. Sunday - Exercise, Monday - clean bathroom, Tuesday - sweep floor, Wednesday - blog) so my schedule isn’t too full. By the end of the week, my chores/errands are done.
4. After these tasks become more routine, I go back to my list and add 5 more items to my weekly schedule.

This works for me, especially when it comes to keeping the house clean. I don’t want to spend the entire weekend cleaning and running errands, I want to relax too. Yes, write that on your schedule: do nothing. Each week can stay the same or you can add more things to your schedule from your list.

Another area I’m trying to get a grip on is when it comes to blogging. Actually, it takes me 15 minutes to write a blog post and 2 days, 6 hours and 4 minutes to edit it. Well not precisely, but I do spend a lot of time doing something I’m really bad at: editing and proofreading. I also like to read other people’s blog, this takes time. Some blogs I know I can read in the morning and leave a comment, others I read while at work and the rest I read when I get home. Generally I post on my blog three times a week and I reply to comments twice a day. This schedule works for me and I can keep up with it.

Also switching from I.E. to Firefox turned out to be a big help. If you have not made the switch yet, download Firefox here. It’s a cool browser with some great features. Below is a list of my top 3 time management add-ons:

• Time Tracker - Track how much time you are spending on the web. Numbers don’t lie. If you can’t get anything done and you’ve logged 6 hours surfing the web, do you really have to ask why? Keep track of how much you browse with TimeTracker.
• Reminder - ReminderFox is an extension that displays and manages lists of date-based reminders and ToDo’s. I love this one because the reminder pops up on my computer screen, unlike my other reminders that are emailed to me. Yes, I’m pre-alzheimers, not making jokes. Thanks to K for pointing me toward this great add-on.
• Split Browser - This splits the content area of the browser window as you like, left, right, top, bottom. My laptop can split the screen if I wish, but this add-on is a no-brainer for me. Great for when you’re answering comments on your blog. There’s no need to scroll up and down trying to make sure your answer everyone. Split the screen, keep your comments on one side as you type on your replies on the other. Thanks Barbara for sharing this find with me.

Of course, not everyday is a by the schedule day, I try to keep it light but productive. I’m always looking for balance and not chaos. So, how do you do all that you do? Does your life have a schedule? How do you manage your time?

Photo of timer: Valerie Morrison. Yep I bought a timer, I’m that bad.

PS - I know this font is too small for some of you, I’m working on it….

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About WordPress (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Okay this has got to be my longest post title, I’ll have to continue the rest of it in another post. I’m still learning my way around WordPress so actually this post won’t tell you everything you want to know, just the little bit I do know, by accident.

Blog Archive. If you’ve ever paid attention to your post titles or looked at the top of your browser, the word “Blog Archive” appears before your post title. I hated it, but never bothered to ask or even search how to get rid of it. Kathy was kind enough to Zoom the fix for removing blog archive from WordPress allowing me to find it. The solution can be found here. It’s very easy to do because I did it, just don’t forget to backup your blog, always. Also after you remove ‘blog archive’ you will still see this “>>” the solution to removing this is also on the same blog post. I however had to use this: wp_title($sep = ‘ ‘, $display = true) { instead of what was suggested in the post. Keep a copy of any code you are overwriting in, say for example, a WordDoc.

SEO Title Tag. I actually made the edits to my blog myself, but if you want to save about 5 hours, several bouts of crying and pulling your hair out, try this plug-in. This is just one of many, find the one that works for you. I did not know how to do this before yesterday, but if you know what you are doing, it only takes a minute. With a few modifications now the name of my blog shows at the top of the browser along with the post title and no ‘blog archive’. To make this happen I made changes to the Header.php file. Thanks to Megan for pointing me in the right direction.

Find this:

<title><?php bloginfo(’name’); ?> <?php wp_title(); ?></title>

Replace with this:

<title>ThinkingOutLoudBlog.com<?php bloginfo(’name’); ?> <?php wp_title ($sep = ‘-’); ?></title>

Of course, replace ThinkingOutLoudBlog.com with the name of your blog, unless you want to leave it there.

Okay two things you probably always wanted to know about wordpress (but were afraid to ask). I tried out some other customizations, but I won’t post them until I get them working, I hope these two are helpful.

I was able to install edit comments on my blog, so now you have the option of editing your comment after you hit send. It took me all of two minutes to try it out on my test blog before making the changes here. It’s so easy, even a cave man can do it.

If you do need help though, feel free to email me.

Shameless Blog Promotion

I guess I do have a lot of time on my hands. Well actually I don’t, but I found time (stayed up late) to make a little movie that shamelessly promotes my blog. If you have 2 minutes (and 53 seconds), I’d like to show it to you.

C’mon, click the button. I promise I won’t rub dirt on your carpet and then blog about the many ways I can get the stain out. Nor will this shameless blog promotion stain your clothes (I hope you don’t either), it does not contain background music (okay there’s a little at the end), but if you want to hum “We are the World” while you read it, that would not be inappropriate and best of all, it’s rated G for girl needs a life! Please dim the lights…

If I had some animation skills, I could do a better video. I might look into doing something really, really simple, like talking stick figures and hand puppets. So if one day you have nothing to post, throw this up there and join in the shameless blog promotion movement. Spread the Word!

P.S. Have you done any shameless blog promotion? What did you do?

EDIT: Same shameless blog promotion, but with music this time. Pick your pleasure, you can have it both ways. With music or without. Hey when you guys are right, you’re right. I’m shrugging my shoulders. Ahh, it was fun and shameless!

Everything Must Change

While holding my breath, I’ve been making some changes to my blog over the past few days. I’m comfortable with adding widgets and making minor coding changes, but if it gets too complicated I rather just leave it alone for fear of messing it up. I know Barbara has a test blog where she tries out her configurations first, as do I. Do you?

How do you go about making changes to your blog, particularly if you are on WordPress, but not limited to. Do you just make the changes or do you test it out first? I always make a backup of my blog before I proceed with any changes, I’m that scared.

So what’s new here? For starters, my blog can now be accessed by using this url: ThinkingOutLoudBlog.com. Hopefully for some this may be a lot easier to remember than valeriemorrison.net/blog.

On the sidebar is a widget for popular posts and below the comment section of each post is a list of 5 random posts you may or may not have read.

There’s also a new page up top called Meet the Blogger, that’s about me. It’s really a bunch of rambling, maybe you’ll find it interesting or it could put you to sleep.

I also opened up ThinkingOutLoudBlog.com store over at CafePress. A small portion of all sales go to charity me.

Hope you like!

Blog: For Sale By Owner

Would you sell your blog? I’ve never heard of this practice before, but yesterday I came across a post on a blog that I subscribe to from the new owner introducing himself to the former owner’s readers. I wasn’t an active commentator on his blog, but I was a regular reader and for a few seconds I flirted with the feeling of abandonment.

This got me thinking, of course, would you continue to read (or comment) on a blog you frequented if it changed ownership? I visit my regular blogs because that person has become a ‘friend in my head’, I want to know how they are doing. It’s not always about content.

To me it’s like having a ‘friend’ move to another house, but hanging out with the new owners. I’m not saying we can’t be ‘friends’, but it would be awkward at first.

Now I have seen displays on blogs advertising its worth (find out your blog’s worth here) and I never took it seriously but found it to be more entertaining than anything else. It is worthy of a question though: Would you sell your blog? Why or why not? Would you continue to read or subscribe to a blog if the original owner sold it?

The only reason I would sell my blog is because I’m never going to blog again and I know it, besides who would want to buy it? (Uh, if someone out there wants to buy my blog, please contact me, we need to talk.) Maybe the niche of the blog matters? I recently sold a website, complete with forum members because I will never start another one of that kind again. I’m just not sure of blog selling. Heck, I don’t even want to monetize my blog, but I’ll never say never. Did you hear that Oprah?!