Time is a funny thing. Sometimes is it a blessing and sometimes it is a curse. I recall when my children were home, I could not wait to have more time to myself. Now I have all the time in the world and I still feel I have no time to myself.
I sat down the other day and had a good think about my issue with time and how I management it. I am kind of embarrassed to share my thoughts with you. As I listed out my acronym of the word TIME, I realized it is something to share.
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
William Penn
T is for tolerance. I have noticed that if the task on hand is something I want to do, whether is it pleasant or not, I will make time to complete it. If it is not something I want to do, I will put my time into things that are not as important. I am a master at stretching out a simple chore just to avoid a task. All this accomplishes is wasted time and missed opportunities.
I is for intuition. I have learned over the years that if there is something that is on my mind that will help me with my time management, I should pay attention to it. For example – My husband and I have completely different schedules. He is a morning person and very systematic in how he approaches the day. I am a night owl and fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to how my day unfolds. With us both home full time, there is a bit of friction between us as our daily activities overlap. He is ready for he day and I am just getting up. There is not much of a chance to wish each other “good morning” or to confirm the day’s tasks before we are each pulled into our seprate meetings and distractions. This disjointedness ensures one of us will be unhappy with how their day unfolds. It has been like this for years. This lack of “give” on my part is still heavy on my mind.
M is for method. This is where you apply the best way to use your time. For me it is a list. And very specifically a list made with pen and paper. I need the act of writing down and seeing what needs to accomplish. Along with the daily to do list, I have also implemented “blocking”. I have found breaking my list into three separate blocks helps me get the most done. Once my morning “block” session is up, I move on to the next “block”. Even if there are still tasks not completed from the first block. This means everything that I was hoping to accomplish for the whole day has at least been given some attention.
E is for effort. I have realized that time management takes work. It has not come easily for me. It is developing habits, paying attention to the clock, knowing how long tasks take to complete and understanding why some things are not getting done. You will hear me say “work the list” at times when I get overwhelmed with what I hoped to finish for the day. There are some pretty significant goals that I am reaching towards. Most of the progress I am making seems like it is not amounting too much. With the effort I am putting forth on a daily basis, they seem within reach.
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