Friday, April 18, 2014

In Search of Productivity and Excellence: A Free Template

My Sewing Friends,
Apparently it's Easter weekend if all the bunny jokes, colored eggs, and elaborate breakfast menus are any indication. How it has snuck up on me, and bemoaning my lack of a new Easter dress (gasp! Can I even call myself a sewist? ;) isn't exactly how I want to spend my weekend. Instead I find myself in a reflective mood.
This is the time of year when we reflect on what a great sacrifice was made for us; I mean, it's not everyday that someone dies for you so you can live in peace knowing where you'll spend eternity. But as I think on this, however unspiritual it may sound I'm contemplating how I'm spending my life HERE. I've been given this great gift of life and how am I using it? How am I using my skills, talents and gifts? Am I using my time wisely and productively? I don't want just my clothes to be vibrant I want a VIBRANT LIFE!
I was listening to Episode 25 of the Thread Cult Podcast the other day, and in the interview with Liesl of Oliver & S they mentioned an article on highly productive people and a graph on time management. As if an interview with Liesl wasn't enough of a "what are you doing with your life?" kick in the pants. :)
It reminded me of my favorite book on organizing for creative people which also discussed how to deal with Important VS. Urgent.


So I created this little printout just so I could sort my own thoughts. You can see some of my big things... and as I look at what I've written I think I put some stuff in the wrong categories. :) Organization should probably be under important not urgent instead of the unimportant category. :)
Just writing it out has really helped me realize where I'm spending some of my time and where it could be better spent....
As my minuscule gift to you I figured out how to upload so you can download a PDF file of this blank chart. Hurrah for learning more computer gobblely goop! If you desire, you can download it HERE! I hope it helps you and however you choose to spend your weekend, celebrating or not; I hope you have a good one!

4 comments:

Jagoda Spronk said...

Oh, this is great! Seeing things written and organized this way makes you rethink their real importance, I will have to try that, since I've had a lot of trouble organizing myself lately... Hope you have a great Easter, and that your reflections will solidify into many lovely garments to wear, successful business, and of course tons of fabulous blog posts!

EmSewCrazy said...

Glad you like it! Thanks for all the well wishes! I am going to try my best!

Heather Bee said...

Hey, great way to organize your thoughts. Sometimes writing things down does make things a lot clear. (I'm horrible at actual organizing though. Living in the chaos!) Hope you had a great Easter Emily!

EmSewCrazy said...

I hope you had a great Easter too Heather. Looked like there was some serious egg dyeing going on on Instagram! :)
Haha, yes I am the same, organized thoughts, cluttered surroundings!