I'm two posts late because two days I didn't have enough time to open a door. Darn it. Tick-Tock, Knock-Knock! I have no idea how to define time and have done a little research to understand it but it goes way beyond my comprehension. I do know that I and everyone around me whines 'there isn't enough time' so join me behind this door to understand more about time and how we let it rule our worlds.
I want to better understand time so I could manage it better, stop complaining about not having enough of it, doing something and having no idea how much time passed, stop being stressed by time, and understand why my relationship with time is like being on an episode of Amazing Race and arriving at my destination 'just in time' or even a tad late, rarely early.
I suppose that the measure of time was developed to create order. Smart. But, we are so driven by time that it seems to make us all a little bit crazy. Stupid. When I was going off to college, my Dad told me that with 24 hours in a day, I could sleep for 8, go to class/study for 8 and then do whatever I wanted for the other 8. Duh, so easy. Playing out the college time theory in real life was next to impossible. I was busy in college: Division 1 sport, RA, nanny, student, friend, girlfriend and some studying. I was terrible at managing my time to the 3x8.
Time is a big source of internal judgement for me even though I feel like I am a master at maximizing time, whatever it is. I can get a lot of shit done in the course of a day/week/month/year but yet, it alwasy seems to create so much stress and I know I'm not alone. I don't think I have ever heard someone say, 'i have the perfect amount of time to get everything done today'. My dream is for me to say that and live that way.
Time is a dominating force in our day if we are aware of it or not. Some examples:
1. One of my least favorite chores is to unload the dishwasher and pretty much either try to avoid it or it takes me like 30 minutes. So one day I decided to time myself from start to finish. It took just under 5 minutes. Huh? i spent more time thinking and more energy avoiding it instead of just doing it. Still don't like it though!
2. Stuffing our schedules with too much. We are making ourselves and our children cray-cray by cramming into the days that there is very little 'downtime' and we will suffer now and longer term from this. Why do we feel the need to say yes to everything and give up our time AND pay a lot of money for it in exchange?
3. Stuck in time. That is, stuck in the past or the future where things have already happened and we have no idea what's going to happen. We should all focus on the present time, like right now, because that's really all we have. This takes a really long time to master - like your lifetime! Keep knocking. :)
4. Being so focused on time can quickly take out the joy. In my business, we provide thoughtful execution, among lots of other stuff. A former co-worker said to me once, 'wow, being thoughtful takes up so much more time.' I was dumbfounded by her revelation becasue my brain doesn't calculate my time that way - thoughtful execution is just what I do.
5. I read a book a while ago that we'd be better off if we managed our energy vs. our time. I love that concept but when you live in the USA, you'd be doing it pretty much on your own because our culture doesn't support it.
6. I don't watch TV - many weeks I spend zero time unless we are watching something as a family or my husband and I watch a few select series together (new Ray Donovan started last night!). In my view, it's a huge waste of time.
7. How valuable is your time? In my professional life, we provide a service in exchange for fees. The most difficult thing I have had to do in the past 12 years is to value our/my time. What is it worth per month (we do not charge by the hour)? Our primary output is our time, we save our clients tons-o-time, yet puting a price tag on it is tough stuff. In my personal life, I'm constantly struggling with deciding to do things ourselves because we are capable but outsourcing because our time is worth more than paying. But is it if we don't value our professional lives properly - it's all connected.
8. Watch people going up and down elevators in a big building. I find this facinating. Most of them are miserable AND it's where they spend the majority of their time.
9. I constantly set alarms on my phone to try to make me more rigid with time and all I do is ignore them. It's comical and also makes me feel like a loser-bag.
10. After I read the book The 4-Hour Workweek, I wanted to spend a week shadowing the author and at the end beat him up! Who the hell can work only for 4 hours and be productive? I'd be happy with a 10X his workweek!
Time is really interesting and we should all have a mission to think, feel and speak as if we have just the perfect amount of it. We are totally in control of how we spend our time. When you hang out behind door #11, don't be rushed, be curious and if it takes you a lot of time, so be it. It will be time well spent!
With love,
Katie
p.s. thank you for spending your time reading. xo