The importance of scheduling "this and that" days

Way back in the fledgling days of the year, when one could still see scraggly, browning Christmas trees being sheepishly dragged to the trash by their owners, I spent some time talking about how I had decided to structure my days/weeks for this year (and beyond) in a post called A Woman of Emails. In truth I'd already been taking the approach that I outlined in that post to a degree for years, if not my whole life, but by truly dedicating days to one set task, my productivity - not to mention my state of mind/happiness - levels have not only picked up, they've exceeded my expectations in certain areas.

One topic that I didn't really touch on in that post however and which the longer that I take this approach, the more I find to be immensely important, is that of scheduling days in which you don't focus on one main task (say, writing future blog posts). Instead you devote the day as a whole to catching up on the little things that you might have been putting on the back burner so as to concentrate on larger jobs and/or that have snowballed suddenly and run the risk of throwing your whole schedule/work plan of course as a result.

Naturally, even if some of us have relatively similar work/passion/hobby/etc schedules, no two people will find their "this and that" days, as I like to call the days that I specifically set aside for this purpose, to be the same. The little things for me may be the big things/jobs for you and vice versa. As well, you may have elements of your life that don't even enter the picture in mine, just as there will be some in my daily life that rarely, if ever, factor into your own.

That said, here are some of the work related things that I often focus on when I'm having an intentional "this and that" day (I'll usually do some personal things, too, such as straighten up my closet or bookshelves if they need it, pen snail mail letters, wrap gifts, cook or bake and freeze meals for the coming month, etc). This is by no means a complete list and it certainly changes, to a degree at least, as time goes on, the seasons, if we're nearing a big holiday, my health, etc, but it is a good snapshot of some of things I've been focusing on during my "this and that" days so far this year.


-Catch up on blog feeds if I haven't been able to stay on top of them each day during a given week (I use Bloglovin' for the bulk of sites that I follow on a regular basis and can't recommend it highly enough if you're also a fan of following sites via RSS).

-Source and bookmark or pin(on Pinterest) images to use for future blog posts. I also keep a dedicated Word document with lists of online images that might work well for a huge variety of future posts stored on my desktop (right along side my list of future post ideas themselves). I often find, especially after nearly six year of frequent blogging that finding the right image(s) for a post can be time consuming or even challenging (if the image I want is highly specific, for example), so having these lists available to pull from is hugely useful to my productivity as a blogger.

-Do research/fact checking that may be required for posts that I plan to write in the near future.

-Reply to Facebook and Instagram comments. I find that I get more of these than I (currently) do Twitter and Pinterest ones (which I try to reply to as they arrive or at least within a day or two of such happening), but if they've built up there, too, they're apt to get tackled on these kinds of days.

-Brainstorm ideas for future posts and/or plan out my blog schedule for the coming months.

-Play dress up with my own wardrobe to design new outfits that I might one day share here on my blog. This is especially important with garments or accessories that I've received from companies for review, as I always want to highlight such pieces as best I can in the context of my outfit as a whole.

-Do post office runs.

-File recent business related paperwork and/or do business tax related tasks.

-Sort and edit photos for outfit posts (sometimes I devote a dedicated day to this, sometimes if happens on days like this or on others when I'm writing said posts; it really comes down to the volume of such photos I have at any given point in time).

-Clean/wash, repair/mend, store, etc new items that I've recently acquired for the shop.

-Sometimes, when a full day isn't needed for such, shop for said items themselves.

-Update my Evernote, adding and checking off tasks as needed (I keep lists of countless things I need to do there; in fact, since hopping on the Evernote bandwagon last year, it's been my main computer based do-to list and I really like this handy service).



{One way to look at "this and that" days is like spring cleaning for your work and/or personal life schedule. You focus on doing all those important little jobs that can easily fall to the wayside in the course of a busy week, month or even year, and it usually feel like a big weight has been lifted from your shoulders once you've completed them. Image source.}


These days are not what I'd call days off - quite the opposite actually! They stand to be very productive and can really, really be beneficial in terms of helping to rid your mind of many of those nagging thoughts pertaining to small tasks/jobs you should do, but haven't for whatever reason had a chance to accomplish yet. Though I do find that the number of such days that I need in a given month varies, I usually aim for at least two, but sometimes find I require four, five or even six and that's totally okay.

The emphasis on the kind of work schedule that I'm following this year is, to a degree, less about what fills a given day (per se) and more about the fact that I've consciously set aside said day specifically for a given purpose (or purposes), instead of flitting around between tasks, feeling so overworked/tired/stressed that I don't actually get much done, or worse, pushing myself so hard that my health (physical, mental and emotional all alike) run the risk of serious trouble.

Interestingly, though I don't assign given days of the week to most tasks (for reasons covered in my post from January), I do often find that "this and "that days" tend to fall on either Wednesday or Sunday for me (so far at least - who knows where they may land as time goes on).

This time management tip isn't epically earth shattering, if you will, to most folks, I'm sure, but it is important and it's been a very integral part of my work-life balance this year. As such, I wanted to share it here today for those who may find themselves in need of such a schedule and/or frequently feel like you're getting buried under an avalanche of small tasks. If this describes you, then setting aside intentional "this and that" days may be exactly what, if not the doctor than at least (and more importantly), your own life ordered.

Are you a fan of this approach? Have you tried it as part of your own schedule already? I'd love to hear about your feelings on "this and that" days, as well as any other time management techniques that have proved success for you - in exchange, I'll continue to share those here with you that really make a positive difference in my world.