Time Management

A typical surge protector has about six outlets. If you plug a vacuum cleaner into one of the outlets, will the vacuum work? Sure. Could you instead plug in a blow dryer? Sure. Could you instead plug in a microwave? Sure. Anything that requires the normal voltage will work if plugged into a surge protector.

But what if you plug multiple appliances into the same surge protector and try to run them all at once? It will most definitely overload the surge protector and it will automatically shut down. The same concept goes for our time management. In the past I've struggled with becoming overcommitted because I enjoy being part of many different things. I had to learn the hard way that you can do anything, but you can't do everything. When I tried to do multiple things, I was not able to do them well and would often hit a breaking point where I shut down physically and emotionally.

Other times, I haven't necessarily been overcommitted, but I have procrastinated many things until the last minute, which has the same effect as overloading a surge protector. Consider all the things that we must do within a certain day (work, eating, driving, conversation, etc.). Is it possible to squeeze all these things into 2 hours? Of course not. But some of us put ourselves in that position by procrastinating things over the course of a week or month. There are lots of things that must get done, but since they they can't be done at the same time, it's important to pace ourselves so that we're always doing one (maybe two) things at once and don't leave everything until the last minute.

Do you ever feel like a surge protector that is overloaded? If so, would you attribute this to overcommitment or to procrastination? What are a couple steps you could take toward spreading things out a little?