Focus...

I wanted to write today about something that I find myself struggling with more and more. Lord knows I am not the organized type. But lately, I am finding my thoughts to be so unorganized that it's affecting my drive and my efficiency. We have been busy...yes. And more and more of our time is spent outdoors where to-dos do not get done. But I need to find a way to sort my mental trinkets.  I'm feeling very overwhelmed and unfortunately, when I'm feeling this way my tendency is to turn off...completely...and as a result, I get absolutely nothing done. So instead of chipping away at my tasks, they start to pile up.

Lately, I have been feeling a strong need to focus. As a mom, my life is constantly being pulled in multiple directions. I feel like I have been trying to do everything at once and, as a result, getting very little accomplished. I crave the feeling that comes with finishing a task. But how do you focus? And once you decide to focus, how do you determine where to put that focus and which task to finish first? And what's more, how do you turn off those voices suggesting that you need to be elsewhere {mentally or not}.

I would really like some input here. Do you have a system that works for you? Do you make lists, schedule days, plan tasks? What has simplified your process when it comes to getting everything done and still having a little time for yourself?

Here are some of the things I am thinking of doing:

• reserving certain days for certain tasks {however, the rigidity of this makes my anti-conformist bones cringe}
• making weekly lists and making sure to complete one task before starting another
• focusing on only the kids {really, it could take up all my time..but then who will clean my house and cook my dinners?}
• getting a planner {but seriously, I would need someone to teach me how to utilize such a thing}
• sell everything I have so I don't have to take care of it anymore
• let things go and worry about them when they become so that they cannot be ignored {like the stench in our bathroom that I absolutely HAD to obliterate this morning}......okay, prime example of my lack of focus is that after writing that line, I remembered that I had our shower curtain in the wash which needed hung on our line and I went and did that...do you hear me? NO. FOCUS.
• have a set schedule for the day which allowed certain time blocks for certain activities

These are just some of my thoughts. Have any of you done any of these? Have they worked for you? Do you have any suggestions, links, books, etc. that might help me. I'm an artistic, free spirited, creative type who likes routine but dislikes rigid structure. Please help me!!!!