Pondering: It’s About Time!

Time.

Pondering time is something we all do everyday.

What time is it?

Do you have a minute?

Spend your time wisely.

“I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.”
Golda Meir

Time management is key to getting everything done that we need to do. I am a huge fan of to-do lists. Give me a sharpie and a legal pad and I am good to go. Lack of planning is where I think many create their time crunches. We all have deadlines, appointments and meetings to make and places to be at a certain time however; some people are always on time and some chronically late. The characteristics of those always on time: check the clock frequently to manage time, write down events and appointments and generally are aware of what time they need to be places. It is never too late to start working on these things if you don’t already do them.

I love this song by Billy Porter. I wish it had a gorgeous video but his voice is really all you need. Billy asks “what is time?” and give you pause to think about the same.

“Time for change

Its time to care
It’s not too late
Don’t despair
Reach inside your heart

To find the joy the love
To share with all mankind
For all we know

All we have
Is time”

Lyrics from Time by Billy Porter

“Finding some quiet time in your life, I think, is hugely important.” Mariel Hemingway

This is something is really hard for me. Meeting the demands of family and work take precedence for me over “me time.” I need to work on this.

My quiet time is yoga and I find a lot of peace in that quiet time. There are studies that show that daily meditation can increase creativity. This great article by Mark McGuinness talks about how daily mediation can help boost your creativity. “At first, you’ll be surprised, maybe even horrified, to discover how busy your mind is – a non-stop stream of mental chatter.” I am going to try Mark’s suggestion of twenty minutes of meditation. I will look at the twenty minutes as an investment in the rest of the day being more positive and productive.

“My time is now.”
John Turner

What ways to you make time work for you? Are you willing to make a few adjustments to improve the quality of your time? If so, what changes will you make?

Featured image courtesy of Leo Reynolds via Creative Commons.
Article by Peg Fitzpatrick

13 comments

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Denise

Love list! I split my list in two, must complete today & nice to complete today! Second allows me to work ahead so I don't miss deadlines. Think I need to add me time to the list!

Editor

Ignore time and concentrate on the moment

Peg Fitzpatrick

I think everyone needs to find their own balance and can't all be Martha. She also only sleeps like 4 or 5 hours a night. That is a little much for me! Or not enough really. :)

Bruce Sallan

Time is our most precious commodity...and the older we get the faster it goes by (my theory). I think it's worse for parents. The Fiddler song always comes to mind, "wasn't it yesterday that they were small..."

I love Fiddler on the Roof and was in it when I was too young to feel the weight of the lyrics. Have you seen Children of Eden? The song that really gets me is Hardest Part of Love: "But I could not close the acorn Once the oak began to grow And I cannot close my heart To what it fears and needs to know That the hardest part of love is the letting go" My son was Noah his senior year and performed this. Time does go by quickly, even that feels like yesterday and it was a few years ago. You gonna make me cry on my blog Bruce. Geez!

C'mon Peg, doesn't this kind of "cry" feel good?

Johnny Bee

Big fan of writing out a 'to-do' list. I've even moved on to using my electronic calendar. Huge help when it comes to getting things done. As for 'me time,' I'll usually take a nice, long walk with my iPod plugged in. It's funny but I don't like to take these walks with anyone, even my wife! This is a great time for me to decompress and mentally prepare for what I have coming up. I've found it to be great for my mental health as well as my physical health.

Very nice you have your time Johnny! What do you use for your electronic calendar? Do you use Evernote or any other tools?

So agree with this "time is a gift!" Used wisely, you really can get done more than you think you can. I am constantly juggling my schedule to squeeze things in. Sometimes just doing little things, like making the list or cleaning off your desk, can make the next day go that much better. I started that trick awhile back, making the next day's to-do list at the end of the work day. It lets you free your mind from the things you didn't get completed that day and start the next day with a great start. Thanks Jeff!

Luftig Warren

I LOVE to-do lists. I am very task-oriented and find that without specific goals identified, I tend to bounce from this project to that project, not making significant progress towards finishing any of them. I've found that when I have a game-plan written down, ordered by importance and time sensitivity, I am able to finish each of my projects much more quickly, giving myself more time to enjoy the things I want to be doing outside of work. Thanks for the reminders, Peg!

Thanks Luftig! I think it is important to know yourself, your work style and improve on the things that you can. We are all works in progress, right?

Tony Bennett

I started going phone-free, and by association, SoMe free between 7pm and 9pm on weekdays recently. It's not exactly quiet/meditation time, but it goes a long way to improve my relations with the ones that matter most - My wife and kids! I found myself so wrapped up in everyone else's updates that I was buried in my phone when I got home and unknowingly ignored the real updates in front of me. Kinda sad that I had to implement it but definitely added balance back into my life. And I still can participate in #CMchat lol!

Great plan Tony! Family time is very important. We have no phone rules at dinner. When we are eating we don't answer the phone and there are no electronics at the table.This is a electronic time management discussion. I think that is something that a lot of people need.