Time

Time...

No matter who you are, we are all given only 24 hours in a day. The demands of the day may leave us overwhelmed and we find ourselves saying 24 hours is just not enough.

The choices we make concerning our hours today do in fact influence the foundation of our future. We do our best to be over “productive” creating extensive to do lists and find we barely get through the first two items. Something new always come up.

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.”

Staying busy doesn’t necessarily mean we are working harder and going to be more successful, it means we haven’t quite mastered the “work smarter, not harder” tactic. I have spent my life constantly running around, “staying busy” until I realized it was leading me to mindless “productivity”. I did a lot but found I accomplished nothing. When I finally picked my head up, I was still in the same place, more successful yes, but not fulfilled. Life was passing me by and I still had not done what it was I had wanted to do.

Every day for over 15 years, I lost 4 hours from my commute to and from work. I lost family time because I needed to get to bed earlier in order to wake earlier. What I couldn’t accomplish in the week started spilling into my weekends which should have been dedicated to my family. I lost sight of the quality of life. I needed more time.

No, what I needed was to learn how to manage my time better. There is no opportunity to go back and start over, I don’t get back the days I already used up. I had to start thinking differently, I had to become more thoughtful to myself and my capabilities. So, I started considering myself and asking “what can I get done, how can I get it done more efficiently, is this something I need to do or can it be eliminated?”

First, I needed to clear away the space in my life that prevented me from making time for friends, family, travel and just simple alone time. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27).” We really are not meant to control everything. Yet, we worry about everything.

I started managing my time. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t about squeezing in as many tasks into my day as I possibly could, it was about simplifying the way I worked, deciding on how much I could do and what I needed to give up. It was about considering the speed in which I did things and how to alleviate the stress I was causing on myself and my family by my absence.

There really is enough time in the day for everything you want to do when you have created a plan. I started enjoying my life a lot more. When you get organized with your time, you don’t only increase your ability to manage your daily tasks effectively, you increase the likelihood of putting time where it really counts: towards long-term goals, family time and self-pampering and still have the time and ability to accomplish other responsibilities. It just requires a bit more rearranging, realigning and reconditioning of your mind.

Disclaimer: there is no secret trick to getting it right. Everyone is different and works differently. I learned through trial and error what worked for me and continue to struggle every single day but I don’t give up.

1. I make a list of all the things I want to get done and organize them into buckets.

2. I identify most important tasks and complete these first.

3. I say no. I no longer make commitments knowing it would require me to juggle too many things.

4. I give myself time to rest. A good night’s sleep does wonders for the mind, body and spirit.

5. I stay focused on a task and commit to completing it within a set time period. I eliminate distractions and get it done.

6. On the weekends, I wake up early and make a list of tasks I want to get done, and give myself a time limit.

7. I maximize my time.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9). I don't try to do it all because I know I just don't have that kind of power.

There are enough hours in the day, we should just learn to make better use of that time. It is within your control.