There has been a common thread weaving its way through many of my posts over the last 8 months or so. Busy. I see myself mentioning that word time and time again. Even when I don't say that word it is definitely implied by the schedules I lay out or the infrequency of my posts.
So, I'm going to do something about it.
Entry to be continued... (cuz I'm too busy to actually finish this up right now.)
...I'm back
In my old life I never had any extra-curriculars outside work and sometimes church (when I wasn't working). In my new life there is work, church, C&C, worship practice for church and C&C, youth group, Sunday school and small group. I also tend to be the grocery and gas guy as well as taking care of all the little day to day things around the house like minor repairs and bills and whatnot. And after all that is done, I have my little side business that soaks up free time like a sponge.
The easy thing to do would be to simply cut things out of my schedule. However I like the things I do. To cut them out would solve my time issue but create new issues. I suppose I can delegate a few things. Unfortunately the person I would delegate some things to is busier than I am at the moment. Those things will have to wait a month or so. Next, I can pay someone to do the minor things around the house and work that I don't actually have to do. In the battle of Time verses Money I am at a point in my life where I realize that time is more valuable. Ok. So far, so good. I have been working on my efficiency in the things I need to do. I co-ordinate my outings to get 3 or 4 things done at a time instead of staggering them throughout the day or week and losing a bunch of time for travel alone.
And I know I have time wasters in my life that I can cut back on. The big one for me is news aggregates online. I'm a bit of a news and political junkie and I can lose myself online for hours catching up on what is happening in the world. So, I will limit my time online. That will be a huge time saver (I say to myself as I blog online). Video games used to be a huge time investment for me as well but I sold everything I had before Christmas. That has definitely made a difference.
This is good. I think this will help.
Any other suggestions?
2 comments:
Sounds like you're moving in a good direction with the things you've thought of. It's encouraging (and challenging to myself) to 'see' you taking tangible steps to change these things because they're things we CAN change! That's pretty cool:)
My question would be what are you trying to get out of having more time? What is it that you're trying to create more space for? Perhaps removing some things/activities might be an appropriate response, depending on what you're intentions are? I'm not sure. There are only so many hours in the day...even for good, worthwhile things, which I've found to be where things get really challenging.
Time is used for the necessities of life, like eating, paying bills, work, etc... but it is also used for the niceties of life like movies, hanging out with friends, playing guitar, etc... I am trying to create more space for the niceties of life. One of those niceties for me is simply free time to do nothing. To just sit and soak "it" all in. I need that nothing time and I can feel when I'm not getting enough of it.
I realize that there are a lot of good things in the world that can steal all our time if we are not careful. That was one of the first things I learned about a year ago as I started getting more involved. I've limited myself to the things that allow me to use my skills and abilities for others and things that allow me to enjoy life. There are a lot of other worthwhile things that are out there that I am not suited for and so I've stepped back from those things.
And most importantly, I've only committed to those things which I actually have time for, or at least thought I have time for. We'll see.
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