Lessons in Slowing Down: How I Plan On Managing My Time

Time is a funny thing. When I became a parent, and then a working parent, it became a precious commodity. I am obsessed with it. Each half-hour of my life is carefully plotted out on an Outlook calendar. Like Annabel Crabb, I use the whole day like an Italian farmer uses every scrap of the pig. One thing was sure – I never feel like I have enough of it. Time, that is. But then odd things sometimes happen – I will fall into a pocket of free time, and not know what to do with it. And, coming across a tiny patch of “leisure time”, I do what any other adult with a smartphone would do – check Facebook. Or Twitter. Click on a link and read funny “Engrish” signs or watch cat videos on Youtube. Which is all very entertaining, and I do subscribe to the idiom “laughter is the best medicine”, but watching another video of a cat on a Roomba is surely not the best way to spend my life and fill up those empty “windows” that pop up unexpectedly – like when the kids are playing quietly instead of fighting over me. Additionally, I have started to become more anxious, with self-doubt starting to rise again. I felt rushed, but also like I wasn’t getting anywhere.

Yesterday I read a quote by Carl Sandburg that went

“Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you”. 

This was my first “aha!” moment for the year. I am going to manage my time firstly by living the life that I want to live, that I am meant to live – not the life I think I should live, or what others think I should  (though I am always open to suggestions). I can only be who I am – and that includes being a mother to two (currently small) children, and someone who doesn’t (yet) possess superhuman skills. Me with all my unique talents, quirks, personality traits, aptitudes, shortcomings, weaknesses and commitments. I am certain that this alone is enough to allow me to lead a wonderful life. I think the anxiety arising from feeling pressured to be someone else was contributing to the sense of feeling rushed and not having time, and paradoxically, driving me to hide in non-threatening activities like socialising on Facebook. I am going to be me, but will aim to be the best version of me that I can be. And that version will involve a little more reflection, learning, integrity, self-compassion, and that elusive concept, balance. I will attend to Quadrant II – important but not urgent activities. I will exercise conscious choice and cease the habit of reacting that I have slipped back into. Time is no longer something to be managed, but something to be spent wisely. So, I should really re-title this post “How I Plan On Spending My Time”.

I leave you with some words from Steve Jobs.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

 

What about you? Do you feel as though you are spending your time the way you should? How do you decide how to spend your time?