Managing Task and Project Anxiety Pt. II

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So you have all of your tasks listed out by project (if you don't, head back over to part one), and it seems rather daunting.

Where do you begin?

In this section, I’m covering how to choose your tasks and knock them out. Hopefully, you’ll gain some insight into prioritizing your projects and tasks, creating timelines, and what to do when you hit a snag along the way.

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For the steps ahead, let's use the project/task example that I gave during Part I:

Project: Yard Maintenance

  • Clear the Yard

    • Mow the Lawn

      • Pick up sticks

      • Fix the Lawn Mower

        • Change the Oil

        • Replace the Battery

THE ASK | It's usually best to start by looking at the main projects instead of the tasks within them. It's hard to tell if replacing the lawn mower battery is important among your entire list of a bazillion tasks. It's a little easier to tell if mowing the lawn is important, but it's very obvious whether or not clearing the yard is an important project amount your list of projects (remember that your projects list will be a considerably shorter list than your task list).

So looking at your projects, ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Is one of these urgent? (fixing a leak, prepping a nursery, etc.)

  2. Which of these is most likely to put my soul at ease?

  3. Which of these would make another project move along?

  4. Has one of these waited long enough?

  5. Has one of these been weighing on you?

If you’ve asked these questions and no one project stands out to you, then close your eyes, point to a project, and go with that one! You’ve gotta start somewhere!

SET A GOAL | You’ve picked a project, and you have a whole list of tasks and sub-tasks to help you complete it. You may be the type that just wants to plunge into all of those tasks, knock ’em out, and move on to the next project. If that works for you, then great — do that! But for those of you who get stuck in that “Oh gosh, I only have 30 minutes of free time, how can I fill it?!” rut (like me), then it may be best to set a goal and build a timeline. To build a solid timeline, always start with your smallest subtask and climb the ladder from there.

Pretending my entire project task list is above, determine how long it will take to replace the battery and change the oil (now you now how long it will take to fix the lawn mower). Then determine how long it will take to pick up sticks, then to mow the lawn. Now, you’ll know approximately how long it will take to complete the project of clearing the yard.

If you don't know how long a task will take you to complete, do a little Google search or ask someone who does. If you still can't find an estimate, take your best guess and don't be discouraged if you underestimate and have to push your timeline back — you've learned for next time!

Now, my list looks like this:

Project: Clear the Yard [3 days]

  • Mow the Lawn [60 minutes]

    • Pick up sticks [60 minutes]

    • Fix the Lawn Mower

      • Change the Oil [30 minutes]

      • Replace the Battery [10 minutes]

According to my breakdown, this project will take a total of 160 minutes. I may not have 160 free minutes today, but I may have 30 minutes today to change the oil, 70 tomorrow to replace the battery and pick up sticks, and 60 the next day to mow the lawn. So then my goal for this project is to complete it in three days. The more tasks added to this project, the longer it may take. Any hiccups along the way can also add to your estimated time.

If you want to assign timelines to all of your projects before you actually pick one, that’s your prerogative and it may even help you decide which one to jump on next!

MAKE MOVES | You’ve got your timeline and you know your availability so start knocking out tasks — you’ve got this!

THE ROAD BUMP | In many cases, Mr. Heid and I will start a project and hit a point where we can’t move forward within the project for some reason or another (we need a tool, the weather’s not right, we need assistance from a friend, etc). If the snag is something like needing a tool or a friend, we’ll just add those to the list of subtasks and continue to plug along.

If it’s something that we can’t control at all (like a week of thunderstorms or the tool we need is out of stock), we make a note of where we left off and why, and we move on to another task on the list or another project. If you do this and get easily distracted, it may be wise to put a tickler in your calendar that says, “Revisit Project XYZ.”

It’s easy to get discouraged when something doesn’t happen along the timeline we expect, but it makes a difference when we know we can jump to another project and still keep things moving forward around here.

Again, I’m no pro and I often have to revisit my steps from Part I, but this process has helped me and Mr. Heid, and I hope it helps you.

xo,

K

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Managing Task and Project Anxiety Pt. I

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There are silver linings to this whole quarantine thing, like the fact that Mr. Heid and I are knocking out some projects at the house. Before the quarantine, we felt like there were so many things on our plate. There still are so many little tasks and plenty of big projects and we’ve found ourselves overwhelmed by the decision of which task we should take on.

I’m no expert when it comes to getting things done — I procrastinate on some projects just like the next gal. But I do have a few practices that help me feel less overwhelmed and more accomplished, and I hope they’ll help you, too!

In this section, I’m covering the list aspect of managing your tasks. Hopefully, you’ll gain some insight into the importance of a task list, how to define and categorize your tasks, being mindful of yourself when making your task lists, and shedding the notion of “wasting” time.

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LIST YOUR TASKS | I know… you saw that coming, BUT keeping an organized list of the things you need/want to get done is the best start. I keep running lists in Google Sheets. I share one with Mr. Heid that includes separate tabs for house maintenance, yard maintenance, gathering, vacationing, cleaning/organizing, house decorating, etc. and one for just me that includes blogging, crafting, things I want to try, studio organizing, and more. Last year, I had a whole sheet dedicated to wedding planning.

When you make your lists, it's okay (and smart!) To have sub lists. For example, my main tab could say “Yard Maintenance” with a project titled “Clear the yard.” Well perhaps before we clear the yard we have to mow the lawn and fix the lawn mower, and fixing the lawn mower may have even more subtasks such as changing the oil or replacing the battery. In this example, the project list may look like this:

Project: Yard Maintenance

  • Clear the Yard

    • Mow the Lawn

      • Pick up sticks

      • Fix the Lawn Mower

        • Change the Oil

        • Replace the Battery

    • Research landscape companies

When you start listing out your items, you may feel your anxiety increase a little at the number of tasks and want to start one immediately, or you may stumble across a smaller task and think, “Oh, I can knock that out right now!” I’m here to say, DON’T. It’ll be so tempting, but I promise you’ll feel so much better if you finish the list first.

NO ITEM IS TOO SMALL | Imagine this — you have 30 minutes of free time. You can get a good amount done in 30 minutes, but how do you choose? You sit and think about which task is the right thing, the most important thing, the most productive thing to do in that time. Fifteen minutes later, you’ve done nothing and feel like you’ve wasted time, begin to panic that you only have 15 minutes left, and keep going like this until your free time is gone.

If this hasn’t happened to you — that’s so great! It has definitely happened to me, and I’ve been working to change those thoughts and to keep that free-time anxiety at bay. How?

In my spreadsheet, I have a tab that contains only small tasks. This includes journaling, self-care activities, yoga, meal planning, meditation, etc. On my good days when I have free time, I do one of the things on this small task list or my big task list without consulting my spreadsheet — no second thoughts about it.

BUT keeping this small items list helps me when I’m not thinking clearly and instead am on the verge of being in the scenario above. When I have free time and can’t think of something to get done, but want to get something done, then I choose something from my small-tasks list because doing so will help me feel accomplished.

IT’S OKAY TO DO NOTHING | Note that I said, “when I want to get something done.”

I feel like this one heavily ties into the next one, but I’m separating them to make sure it’s stated clearly — DOING. NOTHING. IS. OKAY. You are not wasting time by doing nothing if doing nothing makes you feel good. There are times when we need to be still because we’ve been doing everything or going a mile-a-minute — and that’s okay. Watching a movie? Taking a nap? Chilling by the pool? Don’t think of these things as wasting time, think of them as taking time for you — to help you recharge, breath, decompress, and find balance.

YOU ARE WORTHY | The biggest thing that I’ve struggled with is whether or not some of the tasks on my list are worth my time. I love organizing, but what impact does organizing my doodles into one notebook have on the world? Our lives on earth can be short, and the thought of wasting time on something seemingly trivial has made me feel my fair share of anxiety.

However, just because something is seemingly trivial doesn’t mean that it actually is. Lately, I’ve taken to asking myself if the tasks will bring me joy, ease my mind, help me relax and de-stress, or put me in a better position for another task. If the answer is yes when you ask yourself these things, then do it!

So, sure my doodles could sit around on scrap pages or in other notebooks forever and be fine, but organizing them helped me declutter (always a plus in my book), reminded me of my raw creativity that I’ve put aside for assigned creative projects, sparked inspiration for how I could use old doodles in new designs, and gave me a book that I’m proud of. I shared the book with my husband so that he could see another side of me.

Tasks on your list may be trivial and pointless in someone else’s eyes, but they’re important to you and you’re worth pleasing.

PLAN FOR THE FUTURE | There have been some circumstances where people say you shouldn’t start planning for something if you aren’t 100% sure it’s going to happen. That may be true for them, but it’s not true for all of us.

Mr. Heid and I had been talking about marriage for a few years and I knew the proposal should be coming around our 5th year of dating. So at the beginning of that 5th year, I started a list of people we might want to invite to our future wedding. Shortly after he popped the question, we knew we’d have to book our major vendors pretty quickly and that we’d need an estimated headcount. I told him about my list, and he was relieved that I’d already started it! We added and removed people, counted them up, and were ready to explore vendor options. Because I started this list early on, we had a nice amount of time to research, interview, and book our top choices.

I also have a whole spreadsheet dedicated to gifting for the holidays. There’s a column for each family member and friend that we regularly give gifts to and a column for gift ideas we think of throughout the year. I even add notes the moment I learn something new that could help in the gifting department, like the fact that my father-in-law doesn’t like pimento cheese (and I make him a food basket every year)!

SAY NO | When friends and family ask us for assistance with their tasks, we do our best to help out. But occasionally, someone will reach out to us for something that requires a good bit more time and we have to say no. Mr. Heid and I have a pretty busy social life (and we love that), but when we do finally have downtime, we don’t want to fill it with something that our hearts aren’t into — like a sportsball design project haha!

REVISIT YOUR PROCESS | I titled this post “Managing Task and Project Anxiety” because in some cases you can’t beat the stress entirely. You may get so good at following this process (or a process of your own design) that you start to auto-pilot. But there may be a time when some of that anxiety drifts back in. Just remember that you aren’t letting yourself down — you’re human. Just go back to your steps with mindfulness and deliberation.

Who else out there keeps an extensive running task list? I’m no expert but I hope this helped some of you!

In Part II, I’ll cover how to analyze your tasks, choose where to start, and what you can do when you hit a road bump!

xo,

K

A Playful + Rainy Upstate Wedding

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Mr. Heid and I have officially been married for six months and it’s been absolutely wonderful so far (minus this coronavirus pandemic). There are not enough words and expressions to explain the level of love and gratitude we felt on our wedding weekend. The pouring rain and freezing cold meant our big day went differently than planned, but our families, wedding party, and vendors went 👏 to 👏 work 👏 to make sure that our day was as perfect as we'd always dreamed.

A QUICK NOTE:

All photography by Anna Duncan Photography and Mary Hayden Photography. Please do not use these photos in any way, shape, or form. Out of respect for my loved ones and their privacy, I’m only sharing photos that do not give many details of their faces — trust me when I say that despite the rain and cold there are so, so many smiles.

Let’s talk about how our day was supposed to go.

The weather apps had all been predicting a beautiful autumn day of 70 degrees and sunshine! We would be married on October 19th in the middle of the afternoon in an open field under a large tree with our beautiful wedding banner hanging in the backdrop. The gentle breeze brushing our cheeks as we said our vows.

We had worked with our decorator and venue coordinator to make a rain plan just in case. I had even contacted rental companies to find out the latest date I could rent a tent — they told me one week’s notice was all they needed. Well exactly one week before our wedding there were zero chances of rain. Even further, the forecast called for no rain that week right up until two days before our wedding when it changed, calling for an 90% chance of rain and 40ish degrees for the entire afternoon on our wedding day.

We went out and purchased patio heaters for our guests. Just in case of a colder October day, I had already gifted my bridesmaids with blanket scarves, and my mom lent me her fur shawl. Our rain plan originally involved a tent, but we called around and no one had one. We made a new plan and hoped for the best. And then, the day before the wedding, we got incredibly lucky. My decorator walked in to a party rental business and happened to talk about the weather (as we all have been known to do). She asked them how many people they’d had to turn away who were looking to rent a tent last minute. The lady said at least a dozen, but that she’d just had a cancellation and now had a tent available. My decorator called me immediately, and we jumped on booking that sucker!

We went into our rehearsal in high spirits because we had a plan and a tent, and we were surrounded by our wedding party and family. The weather that day was beautiful (of course), so we rehearsed for both a sunny wedding and a rainy wedding while hoping for sunny. Then we headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant for food, drinks, and good company on their patio. We even got a cake for two of our friends whose birthdays fell within our wedding festivities!

The next morning, the weather seemed okay, however, the rain started around 11 a.m. — right when my photographer arrived. Luckily, MH and I had previously walked the property to scope out the best photo spots. That, coupled with my trust for her eye, enabled us to make quick changes to our choices and I could not be happier with how all of our photos turned out.

The underside of our dresses got soaked, my bridesmaids’ white shoes got muddy, and our hair frizzed a bit. One of our ushers accidentally cut his thumb with the pocket knife he was given but managed to not bleed on anything. And then, before I knew it, I was walking down the aisle. As our officiant was giving his opening remarks and praying over us, the rain poured harder and louder. The amount of rain coming down during our ceremony was insane.

We exchanged the vows we had written, we said “I do,” we kissed, and then we were married! We ate delicious food, hugged our friends and families, hit the dance floor, cut our pie and smooshed it in each other’s faces, drank our sour beers, and partied the night away. The rain and cold didn’t and couldn’t phase us (seemingly it didn’t phase our guests much either).

It meant the WORLD to us that our friends and family took on the cold and rain to come out and celebrate with us. For weeks after, we literally couldn’t stop talking about how amazing our day was! Looking back on it still brings us laughter, smiles, warmth, and tears of joy.

We had the *most* fun and couldn't imagine a more perfect day. Thank you to everyone who was a part of it; we are grateful and blessed to go through life with you! We love you and appreciate you more than you know!

Everyone always says rain on your wedding day means good luck. If that’s true, then we must be the luckiest people around.

A huge shoutout to all of my vendors! Links included in case anyone reading this needs their services:

DRESS

Stella York from Tiffinie Bleu Bridal

BRIDESMAID DRESSES

White by Vera Wang

MENSWEAR

T.M. Lewin — Shirt

Gap — Pants

Heritage Wedding — Suspenders

SHOES

Vans

CATERING

Bobby’s BBQ

PIES

Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop

BAR

Growler Haus

FAVORS

My Mother-in-Law <3

Sharing a quick snapshot of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE KOOZIES BECAUSE I KNOW YOU’RE WONDERING!

Sharing a quick snapshot of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE KOOZIES BECAUSE I KNOW YOU’RE WONDERING!

Thanks for following along!

xoxo,

K

Makers Guide | Quarantine Edition

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Quarantine, Shelter-in-Place, Coronacation… no matter what you’re calling it, the fact is we’re all staying home. For some, staying at home may be easy peasy. But for me, it can be tough. Luckily, I still have work to do for the day job so that keeps me pretty busy. But there’s still a lot of down time and sometimes I just don’t want to work on another house project. Anyone else?

If you’re also wanting something fresh to do, here are some fun items that may get you through the slump!

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ONE | I know that I personally need to get back into my yoga routine, for both flexibility and to check in and realign with my body. I really need a new mat and this might be just the time to snag one. I’m eyeing the beautiful designs offered by Yeti Yoga — especially loving The Alder Yoga Mat.

TWO | Maybe you’re bored with your usual recipes, maybe you’re always looking for something new, or maybe it’s time to get really creative with what you have left in the pantry — enter Christina Tosi’s cookbook, Milk Bar Life. It’s been out for a few years now, but it’s full of comfort food recipes (like Chicken & Dumplings or Beef Roast), off-the-wall recipes (like the Spaghettios Sammy or Cornbread Ice Cream), and fun stories to boot! Bonus — it’s currently on sale on Amazon.

THREE | In cleaning out our storage room, I was reminded that my friends and I used to elaborately decorate envelopes and mail letters to each other… and yes, we had texting, email, and AIM (HAHA), but there’s something so fun about getting funky envelopes in your mailbox! Get some glue sticks, some envelopes, some stamps, and some of these assorted scrap packs from Yarisi & Co. and go to town!

FOUR | It’s so easy to get caught up in the scariness, loneliness, and negative emotions that come with a pandemic and quarantine, but there are also so many things each of us should be grateful for. Grab a Gratitude Journal from Promptly Journals and begin jotting down those things that bring you comfort and light during these trying times and life in general.

FIVE | This Leafy Wreath embroidery template by Florals and Floss will keep your hands busy and will double as a positive reminder! It’s just a digital download, so you’ll need to get hoops, a needle, and fabric. I get my fabric and needles from JOANN, which is still fulfilling online orders. I use these hoops from Amazon and transfer my fabric to a frame afterward, but you can also use these bamboo hoops if you’re planning to hang the hoop as is.

SIX | And finally, some days it’s all we can do to cope with everything going on. If you’re teaching kids, working in the hospitals, working remotely, bored out of your mind, on your last roll of toilet paper, or simply having a rougher day than you’d like — give yourself an award for simply making it through the day. This Coping Okay Today enamel pin by Clara and Macy sums up my day sometimes and that’s okay.

See you all on the other side of quarantine, because this too shall pass! Sending you wishes for good health!

xo (from a 6-foot distance),
K

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Makers Guide | Women's Empowerment

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We are just 10 days away from International Women’s Day on March 8 — sister’s unite!

Anyone get my School House Rock reference?! If you’re thinking of showering your lady friends in gifts to celebrate International Women’s Day and need some ideas, I’ve put together this gift guide of items that celebrate women and are made by female-owned companies (bonus!).

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ONE | Let’s stay out of the business of putting others down, mmk?! Grab a Hustle Hard Girl or Girls Support Girls key chain from the ladies at Fresh Water Design Co. so your crew can carry a little reminder with them to never lose sight of their goals (even if they get off track) and to support other girls they encounter along the way.

TWO | Sarah over at Chalk Full of Love has gifting covered with her Girl Power Tees and Girl Power Tumbler! She even has toddler tees and onesies for the tiniest of feminists!

THREE | Why is it that just because we have emotions, like to keep things playful, and have boobs, that people assume we can’t take the business side of things seriously and do a boss job of getting shit done? Maybe they need us to spell it out for them with this Serious Business Woman sweatshirt from Ban.do…

FOUR | Weft + Hide’s Lady Lapel Pin celebrates body positivity — and don’t we all need a little bit of that?!

FIVE | You guys know my love of snail mail… Sydney of Super Creative has this pretty Dang! You’re Amazing card that comes as a single card or a 5-pack — however many ladies you think need this little reminder of how amazeballs they are!

SIX | This Taking Care of Business notepad and this Gettin’ Stuff Done notepad by Jade Fisher are both bright, fun, and subtly display female strength.

As a woman, I’m always celebrating femininity in its various forms, but I’m looking forward to celebrating International Women’s Day with you all in March!

xoxo,
K

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Friday Five.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEIKO | Guys, it’s my puppy-doge’s 5th birthday today! She leaves things in our house alone, but she is a beast when it comes to toys. She can chew through a “tough” toy (haha ha ha ha hahaha) in less than a day and a simple one in two minutes flat. Needless to say, her bin-o-toys is full of carcasses, unwound chew ropes, and bone nubs. So for her birthday, we’re clearing out her basket and filling it with ten brand new toys! Hopefully, it’ll take her at least some time to get into them all.

GALENTINE’S DAY | I celebrated my first Galentine’s Day this year! I got my local ladies together for brunch this past Sunday and it was so nice to chill and catch up. I think I’ll try to make it a tradition. Also, if you’re from Greenville, enjoy these hilarious local pickup lines from GVLToday readers.

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EAT YOUR VEGGIES | I spotted the perfect bunch of asparagus at Harris Teeter the other day — Mr. Heid and I like the really thin ones — so I looked up a simple recipe on Pinterest, made plans, and scooped them up. So I’ve been eating this for lunch all week and it. is. divine. So healthy, so clean, so tasty. You gotta like peas though… I also made mine on HT’s harvest grain bread. YUM!

NOT READING, BUT MIGHT | We still haven’t finished Infinity Train because we binged The Witcher and Locke & Key! I’ve never read either of them, but the trailers and descriptions looked promising and they did not disappoint. I’m ready for their second seasons! Also, I’m loving one of the characters’ names — Bode (pronounced Bo-dee) — how cool does that sound?

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HEY, SC — YOUR CRAZY IS SHOWING! | I don’t know about the weather where you are, but here in South Carolina we had 70-degrees and sunny, flash flood and tornado warnings, super cold with a day of snow, and rainy in mid-60s days all in one week. Thankfully that was last week, and this week has been a little more chill. But my allergies are going haywire.

How’d your week stack up?

xoxo,
K

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