The Power of Prioritizing

Prioritizing hasn't ever really been one of my strong suits. I despise being stuck in a rut. I hate doing the same thing every single day. I never want to have to choose one thing and only have that as my career. I love being creative. I adore doing different things, from sewing and knitting to making cupcakes and candy to writing and helping people to research and paper-crafting. I love having the freedom to do all of it!

But, sometimes reality comes in and makes you have to figure something out to make money. My fiancé is wonderful and teaches, so we do have enough money to get by, but we're not able to save anything right now. So on Sunday, he and I talked and decided that I need to come up with a game plan.

I think I did okay. On Monday I sat down and made a list of dates and goals for my new Etsy business (that will start by February 15!). Yesterday, I made the outline and started the content of my book for young women who have fibromyalgia and also worked on one of the projects for my Etsy shop. Today I'm planning on working on one of the dresses I'm making for my wedding (rehearsal dress and wedding dress) and finishing designing the invitations so I can start making them tomorrow.

So. What's the best way to prioritize? Here's my (working) idea of what is best:

1. Deadlines. If you start with what has to be completed soonest, you'll never miss a deadline. That's the most important thing. For example, if I wait until June to start my wedding dress because I work on a book that has no deadline right now, I might walk down the aisle only half dressed!
2. Completion. If I had to choose my least favorite part of my sewing room, it would be all the unfinished projects. I made an amazing dress a couple of weeks ago, but I need to take in one of the seams another 1/2 inch. Still haven't done it; still can't wear it out or get a really great shot of it. Finish what you start. Having 100 unfinished projects is so overwhelming! If you have a few going at once and finish one every few days, that's manageable.
3. Switching it up. One of the projects I'm working on needs 100-some black granny squares as well as 100 colored ones. I've made 23 colored and no black. I will get SO bored if I save all the black squares until the end. Doing two black ones and then a colored one would be smart at this point so I don't just quit the project later.
4. Facing your fears. The bodice of my wedding dress has to be hand beaded. By me. I've definitely never done that before and have no clue how to do it. I'm scared to death about this. Which might be one of the reasons I haven't started it yet. It would serve me best to put this on my short list so I can realize it's not as overwhelming as I think it could be.
5. Plan. Plan. Plan. EVERYTHING can be amazing. But it can't be great unless you take organization and scheduling to the next level. I adore waking up and deciding what I'm going to do that day. It makes me feel free and in control. But it can sometimes waste a lot of time and I don't get through my goals. Yesterday I wanted so badly to design the wedding invitations, but got hung up on the wording because I hadn't planned enough time to figure it out. Revisiting that today. :-)

The problem is that I love doing everything. Everything. There is quite literally nothing that I despise doing. I'm not dreading any of what I need to do in the next five months (getting married five months from yesterday!!!). I love all of it!

But the only way to be exceptional at everything is to prioritize. *sigh* ;-)

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi