A Latin phrase reads “tempus fugit”…time flies! The older we get, the truer it is. The question remains “how to maximize our time.” It seems there is rarely enough time to slow down, relax, or savor special moments. No matter what we do, tasks take longer than we anticipated and the interruptions are endless. Have you ever crammed one more task into an already overbooked schedule and then felt a “rush of accomplishment” when you got it done before the next scheduled event. Nothing stopped us…not wintry weather, red lights, or competing priorities. All potential obstacles became opportunities to shorten that endless “to do” list. It’s the age old dilemma between “doing” and “being.”
As life evolves, some of us question choices made and why we made them. New questions emerge: “How do I want to spend my time? And with whom? If I consciously select “calm” over a busy schedule, what would I do? How would I make life more peaceful, less stressful?
The following activity may hold a key. It is an interesting exercise to gain control of that elusive, precious commodity…TIME. Make sure you complete both parts.
- Make a list of all the things you do during the week that take time. Here are a few for starters; add more as you think of your personal schedule:
Sleep Meals Commute
Work Family Friends
Volunteer School Personal Hygiene
Housework Church/Spirituality Leisure/Fun
Exercise Chores Community
Me time Listening to news TV/Tapes/Music
Reading/Games Hobbies / Sports Add your own
- Write beside each item the approximate number of hours per week you devote to that task. Add up the total number of hours you can account for in a typical week. Example: Sleep 7 hours a night X 7 nights = 49 hours weekly, 1 hour commuting daily to/from work X 5 days = 5 hours weekly, etc. Continue until you’ve accounted for all areas where you spend time.
Add the TOTAL # of hours accounted for in your typical week ________________
- There are 168 hours in a week (24 X 7 = 168). Subtract your total hours in step 2 from 168. How many hours are left over? This is your discretionary time.
Discretionary time: ______________________ (168 hours minus your total from #2 above)
- Draw a circle and label it “A WEEK IN MY LIFE NOW” and divide it into wedges, depicting how your week is split among all facets of your life. Label each wedge and indicate the # of hours allocated to it. Calculate how many hours are not committed. Like I said at the beginning, Time flies; where is yours going?
- Draw a 2nd circle “A FUTURE WEEK IN MY LIFE” depicting the same allocations and now include discretionary time that would improve your quality of life. How might you invest this discretionary time?
- Think about actions you will take to make your 2nd circle become reality for you.
As Jennifer James, cultural anthropologist/humorist once said, “If you can spend an afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.” Now there is a challenge for some of us. Can you let go? Are you proud of your ability to multi task, never wasting a minute? Know anyone who is traveling through life at top speed, never realizing that they’ve missed it?
A WEEK IN MY LIFE NOW A FUTURE WEEK IN MY LIFE
If you have a tip on how to carve out more discretionary time, please send us your idea(s). We’d love to hear from you. As always, thanks for reading and have a great week. -Joyce
