Too Busy To Get Anything Done

Sorry it's been a while since my last post.  Surprisingly, being laid-off seems to have eaten up all my time.  I thought not having a job to go to would leave me with a whole ton of free time to finally do all those things I've been putting off.

Turns out I seem to spend most of my day busy, but with little to show for it at the end of the day.  And I always find the things I really wanted to get done still waiting.  When I think back on my days, I think my single biggest time-suck has to be the television.  Worst drug ever.  The bad part is the only spot I really have to sit with my computer at home is on the living room couch.  So if the TV is on, I find myself sucked in.  Worse, if I'm not interested in what's on, I pick up the remote and scroll through the stupid guide, convinced there has to be something on worth watching. 

And I hate commercials, so I always mute them.  But then I have to pay attention to unmute it when the program comes back on.  Or if I'm watching a DVRed show, I fast-forward through them.  Either way, it turns TV watching into an active pastime, rather than a passive one. 

In addition, there's the packing and other things related to moving.  And the looking for a job stuff (calling recruiters I'm working with, searching job sites, etc.).  Plus, since many of the jobs I'm looking at are different (some are R&D, some QA, some QC, and a variety of product types) I really need to tailor my resume for each job I submit to, and should come up with custom cover letters for each, though I often don't. 

I know, I should learn to multi-task.  I try, really.  I just suck at it.  The best I can do is with rote mechanical tasks that require no real thought.  Then I can at least get in some good thinking time at the same time.  Otherwise, I really need to focus on things one at a time to get anything done right. 

So I think maybe I should go back to the advice I was given before.  When I got laid-off, they had someone come in and do a day-long workshop on career management.  I think one of the better pieces of advice I got from that (and there really were a lot) was to make a list of things you need to do, then check them off as you do them.  Make the list either daily or weekly, as needed.  Also, he suggested to actually make two lists, one for personal stuff and one for work-related stuff, especially for job-search stuff. 

Great, now I need to figure out how to set-up the list, where to post it so I'll see it everyday, how to update it...  Should it be physical or digital?  Should I make it a list or a spreadsheet?  Do I need to print up some cool forms?  Should I make a weekly calender?  *sigh*  See, this is another reason I don't get anything done. :) 

Of course, the thing that's suffered the most is my writing.  I don't think I've written a word on any of my books since I was laid-off.  I haven't even really been submitting to agents lately either.  I really need to get back to that.  It'd be nice to at least sell one book.  Honestly, I do still dream of making enough from my writing to give up the day job, but I'd settle for making at least some supplemental income from it. 

So I guess I'd better stop wasting time posting here and get back to work.  ;)  Best of luck to all of you out there.  Let me know if you also find yourself too busy to get anything done and how you deal with it.  I'm always open to suggestions.