I’m sitting here in my office with unread emails, notifications and urgent messages, wondering where the time has gone. There just doesn’t seem to be enough of it around these days. Apparently, in the ‘good old days’ people led a much more relaxed lifestyle without all the time-saving technology and stress we have now. Or did they?
Modern technology has allowed us the freedom to communicate easily, conveniently and (usually) effectively, but has it given us more control over our day and the time we have?
Even the language we attribute to time is interesting. We hear lots of advice on “how to best use your time, manage your time, spend your time, save your time” but are these effective with regard to our relationship with time?
Time is a valuable resource, and our use or misuse of time is something we are personally responsible for. We talk about work/life balance (although I consider it ‘life balance’ because that is exactly what it is), but working out how to manage our time, actually takes time. Around we go.
For many of us this simply reinforces the perception that we just don’t have sufficient time management skills, but is that simply an excuse?
My clients often talk about TIME – finding it, sometimes losing it (where did that time go?), having it, needing it, and all the rest. Part of this discussion related to the considerable changes that arose from COVID and the need to adapt to a different working and living arrangement which in no small part influenced the way we managed our time. Lockdowns, restrictions, home schooling, working from home and quarantine, brought about many challenges and certainly impacted on our narrative around time.
Our relationship with time is an interesting one and varies depending on your mindset and beliefs.
Time can be identified, labelled and categorized. Is it work time, home time, tax time, lunchtime, bedtime, yoga time, family time, report time, vacation time………? Add your own in here.
We like to think we are working smarter not harder, but often this just isn’t the case.
Priorities – it’s all about the lists. The problem with that is that some people don’t believe they have time to make the list, let alone time to look at it and implement it. Let’s face it – being organised is for people with too much time on their hands.
The reality is that we all have the same amount of time in each day as any of the world leaders but it’s what you do with the time you have that counts. Focus on what is important to you and why. People procrastinate then blame outside influences for their choices.
Relax – there is light at the end of the tunnel, and time at the end of the day, or week. Think about what is important to you. Each day. What is your purpose, your cause, your focus? Where can you do the most good? Where should your energy and attention go? My advice is to take some time to think about that and make some wise choices around what you can achieve and what impact you can have with the time available each and every day.
