An idea crossed my mind again today about how to handle all the 'time debt' I've accumulated. Time debt is the burden of things that I feel I must or should do - just to catch up with what I've promised or need to do to have a good environment. Mostly for me it's decluttering and maintenance work.
My idea is to handle it the way Debtors Anonymous advises handling debt. First, establish a plan that gives a high quality of life (as you define it.) Then, pay off the debts gradually AFTER paying the expenses needed for quality of life. (And - don't incur any more debt.)
Here's how I adapt it to time debt. First, I look at the activities that give me the highest quality of life. OK, these are things I can do NOW even if I "owe" a long list of 'time debt' items.
Of course, I don't promise anyone anything NEW. That would be incurring more time debt. We don't need that.
Then, I list all the time debt items - all the catch up tasks and projects. I found it easy to prioritize them right now since spring brings its own set of priorities. (This is mostly because all the insects around the place are waking up - ants now, scorpions soon to come.)
The main thing is that I'm giving myself permission to do the "quality of life" activities first, without worrying about the time debt items. This definitely works. Doing the "quality of life" activities regularly creates a state of being in which the time debt items feel much less daunting.
Here's to a high quality of life!
3:17:14 PM 
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