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Create Time
Jodi Reichenberger
Do You Spend Enough Time On The Essentials?
Life is full of small fires that really don't do any damage in the end.
Technology has increased our sense of urgency. An overnight letter cries for more immediate attention than something sent bulk rate or even first class, a fax screams louder than an overnight letter, and e-mail shrieks over them all. But the delivery system has no bearing on the importance of the content; that e-mail message may be no more important to you than the letter informing you that you "MAY ALREADY BE A WINNER!" in the big clearing-house sweepstakes.
We also have extremely important choices that don't carry with them any sense of urgency. Of course I should exercise regularly! I know it's good for me. And I will. I absolutely will. Just not right now. Hey, I'm three minutes late for the meeting!
Unless we take conscious control of our decision making, we'll tend to react to the urgent, even if it's relatively unimportant, and the truly important will go unnoticed.
The Big "Want To/Have To" Question
If all this business of prioritizing your life into the A,B,C important/urgent scale seems like a lot of work here's an easier way to begin to gain control of your daily life.
Simply stop what you're doing, take a breath, and ask yourself the following question:
notice……..
Note that it's "or," not "and." Obviously, a task can be a long way from what you'd really like to be doing and still be the thing you need to do. If the answer to this question is "yes," go back to what you were doing. You will have affirmed your choice of activities and made your decision consciously, the key element in time management. If you want or need to do it but not right now, put it off and do something with a higher degree of time sensitivity. That way, you'll avoid getting caught in deadline pressure later.
And if you neither want nor need to be doing it, now or ever--STOP!
This simple question can make a tremendous positive difference in the way you live.
Is Time Really the Problem?
Consider……..
Going to that meeting and sitting in a passive stupor is neither important nor is it especially fun, but it is a lot easier than exercising !! Confronting the deadline may be a lot easier for many of us than trying to iron out the kinks in our relationships. Often we will go on auto pilote or take the path of least resistance, especially when it's easier to just say…… I have to go to the meeting. It's my job.
Will you ever find the time???
Ponder……..
Stop looking.
You'll never find time. It isn't lost. You're living it. You have to consciously make up your mind to live it in certain ways and not others. ( Like ….did you ever quit smoking?? You DECIDED to quit.)You have to make time by taking it away from one activity and giving it to another. It's a simple matter of math……there are only so many hours in one day!
Conscious and thoughtful use of the to-do list can be a BIG help. If you want to exercise three times a week, if you need to do some long-range goal setting, if you care enough about another human being to want to nurture your relationship, you will schedule time for these things. Otherwise, you may not "get to them," and even if you do, you'll give them only your leftover time, when energy and focus are at their lowest. It's just human nature…..just watch…….I have a saying……"If you aim at nothing you'll hit it EVERY time."
You can make time for the important things in your life by reducing time spent on the items in the last category, the "neither important nor urgent but just a lot of fun" area. But you shouldn't wipe this area out completely (even if you could) lest life become one long dreary drudge of duty. I love to surf the net……it's vast and full of interesting things…..i justify doing it and spending all the time I spend doing it and I call it research….but let's face it…..it's also fun. I do it because I like to do it. BUT…..if I need to make time for something, I can give it up to make more time available.
You can also create time for yourself by making a concious effort to devote your time to the things that you deem important and helpful, effective and fun.
Okay, you're three minutes late for that blah blah blah meeting. But the meeting is a fat waste of everyone's time (including the person running it), 90 minutes of listening to the same old dry fodder you could have read for yourself or just never missed to begin with.
"Is this what I want or need to be doing right now?"
Is this what I want OR need to be doing right now?
It may seem amazing to you, but if you stick with the "want/need" question for 21 days (same satisfaction-guaranteed deal as with the vacations), you really will catch yourself doing things you can't justify doing on any grounds, and you'll find yourself shifting activities to better serve your needs.
Time management isn't always a matter of time at all.
Time only needs "managing" because we don't seem to have enough of it to do everything we want and need to do. In particular, we never seem able to "find time" for those important ( but not urgent) activities.
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