Ask Jack!

Happy Happy Hump Day, dear JBB friends! Here’s this week’s timely question. Have questions of your own you’re just longing to ask? Send your queries to me at jackblacksbody@gmail.com. Fire away!


Dear Jack,
I'm having trouble budgeting my time. How do you manage to get everything done on deadline? Thanks for your help.

Time Crunched
Chicago, IL



Dear Mr. (Captain?) Crunched,

I find that lots of my post-collegiate, pre-professional 20-something friends have the very same problem. That’s right, they’re disorganized and dysfunctional. I say “they” because I, thankfully, am past the pcp20s stage of life. Which means I’m an expert budgeter and I get everything done on time with no help whatsoever.

Not quite. Actually, I’m pretty messy and a little lazy. I always say I’m going to join the gym, but I don’t. Before my hot wife came along, I always planned to learn how to cook but always wound up microwaving frozen meat patties for supper. That’s right, I’m a bit of a wreck. Or I was, until my trusty editors came along.

The best way to budget your time is to get yourself a pair of trusty editors (and I'm sorry, man, Croftie and Oline are not for sale). Trusty editors can do anything—they sweetly nag me to finish my creative endeavors, they kindly dispense just the right ratio of bubbles to bath, they tend to all the needs of my needy Body, they check my mail and write my letters, they make my words do the work I want them to do—and they look damn good while doing it.

So, while I’m not one to tell you how to budget your time and get all your work done, let’s take a look at how my trusty editors do it for me:

Lists:
Trusty, organized people make lists for everything, my friend. The books they’re going to write, the sentences that will go in the books they’re going to write, the things they need to do today and tomorrow, and the things they think they might need to do if they decide to do them. My editors tell me that there’s nothing that can rival the joy of crossing something off a list. I never said they weren’t dorks.

Planners:
Planners are little books filled with calendar pages. Apparently, you write the things you need to do today inside the little square for Wednesday, August 23, 2006. Whenever you’re given a new deadline, put it in your planner. This way, you can see your whole month laid out for you on one handy spread. This sounds boring to me, but I’ve heard that these little books come in lots of colors and fashions… some even have unicorns on the covers. So I say, go for the unicorn, dude!

Prioritize:
Now that you’ve got lists and planners, you must learn to prioritize the projects noted therein. My trusty editors recently explained the meaning of this word; here’s what they said:

Prioritize /pri-or-e-tiz/ : to list or rate (as projects or goals) in order of priority

Useful, right? What you’re supposed to do is decide which of your projects are the most important. Get to work on those first, and save the others for later. Here’s my personal list of priorities for this afternoon, ranked in order of importance:

1. Respond to Mr. C’s Ask Jack question
2. Join the gym
3. Choose dessert from vending machine
4. Check in with trusty editors to schedule further priorities

You’ll notice that I put your question down as my top priority. I have nearly finished dispensing my wisdom, which means that it is almost time to call the gym. And I’m going to do it this time, because it is a top priority. Please also notice that dessert comes before checking in with my editors, because dessert takes precedence over most other things.

So go treat yourself to some dessert and get to work. You can do it Cappy Crunch. And remember, if all else fails, get yourself some trusty editors.

Keep me updated and send me a photo of your new planner!
XOXoxOxOXOxoxoXooxoxooxoooooooo,
Jables