Time Flies!
I can’t beleive that it is almost Thanksgiving! My clock took off with wings since September, how about yours?
We talk about time management? But can we really “manage time” or do we manage ourselves and how we use our time? I think it is the latter.
How do you manage yourself, your schedule, your commitments so that your time is purposefully invested? We can either spend time or invest it… “spent time” may bring temporaty enjoyment & relief, but it is not getting us closer to our goals.
For example, I love Grays Anatomy & Private Practice, so I TiVo them and watch them as a way to checkout and just “veg” and we all need time like that. Contrast that with the time I “invest” watching TV with my hubbie or children. The shows they choose are not my favorite shows, or the way I may choose to spend the evening… but this is time with them, doing what they want to do… and thus moving me closer to my goal of building solid relationships.
When my kids were teenagers, watching “thier” shows with them was a great way to purposefully invest my time. would learn what was going on in their lives and what their thoughts & opinions were as we sat on the couch watching their shows. Did I want to be blogging or surfing the net or tweeting while we sat there… of course! These shows were meaningless to me… Except they provided great insight in to my kids lives and provided the quantity time together that almost always yielded conversation and built our relationship.
This is an example of time spent vs. time invested. I am very purposeful in this time with my hubbie & kids. It may not be my favoirte way to pass the evening, but they are my favorite people and participating in their favorites is how I invest in our relationship.
Time invested moves me closer to my goals, Time spent is a “consumer product,” enjoyable, but not necessarily productive.
Don’t get me wrong, we don’t always have to be productive… but I do believe we need to be purposeful. The choice to be purposeful makes the difference in how we view the passing of time.
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, Christmas is upon us like a runaway train, and 2011 is just around the bend… How are you doing with “time/self” management?
2 questions that help me navigate the breakneck speed of the rest of the years;
- What are my goals for the holiday season? (personal, relational, business, spiritual)
- How will I invest my time in each of these areas to achieve them? (each day, each week)
Asking these questions keeps me focused when the demands on my life and on my time increase, or when I just want to “spend” time mindlessly to get away from the chaos. (especially during the holiday season)
So before we get caught up in the whirlwind of the rest of the year, what if we took time to think and plan how we will manage ourselves, in the midst of time flying by!