Much as I hope the year 2020 will bring about a political
upheaval, this post is not about Trump. The older I get, the harder it is to
accomplish everything I need to. I know getting nine hours of sleep a night is
essential for me, but if there’s a good NOVA program beginning at ten o’clock,
or if I’m reading an absorbing mystery, it’s almost impossible to go to bed
early. Though I carefully write to-do lists and show priorities, at the end of
the day there are always some items left over. Also, I simply don’t have enough
energy to do as much as I want to.
Still, I’ve worked out a plan that helps greatly. Maybe it
will help you, too.
It’s called a 20:20 plan because I alternate tasks that
require some physical work with those that can be done sitting down. I start the
same way that many people do when they are organizing time, by writing a to-do
list for the next day. (Sometimes I can also soak dirty dishes overnight or use
other time-saving tricks. And, it’s nice to get up in the morning and find a
schedule laid out for me.) After each item on the list, I write A, B, or C. "A"
means an appointment or other task that absolutely must be done that day.
Usually there are no more than two or three “A” items. "B" means something that should
be done that day if possible. “C” items can be put off until another time if
necessary. (There tend to be many “C” tasks.)
As to the 20:20 aspect, after breakfast I spend 20 minutes
on some basic housework tasks. If the time is up before I finish, I stop! Then
I sit down and read, write, or otherwise do a resting task for twenty minutes. Again,
at the end of twenty minutes I stop whether or not I’m finished, and return to
doing some physical task. By alternating in that fashion, in a few hours I have
worked my way down the list through the most important tasks for the day. I realize this method sounds very inefficient.
Too many times, I must interrupt a job in the middle just because the time is
up. However, it seems to work well for me. It’s amazing to discover how much I
can do in twenty minutes, and I find that I can do just about anything for that
long. Knowing that in a few minutes I can relax and read helps me get through
physical work that would be impossible if continued for hours.
Like most elderly people, I hope to age in place, staying in
my own home as long as possible rather than moving to an expensive assisted-living
situation. So far the 20:20 plan is helping me do so.
Copyright © August 17, 2019 by Carol Leth Stone (a.k.a. RovinCrone)
