As I was preparing syllabus materials for the upcoming school year, I looked back in shock at where the summer has gone. Doesn't it seem as though we just said goodbye to the Class of 2008? Now, it's time to usher in a new crop of seniors and to start another year. After the initial jolt of that notion wore off, I noticed that we would only have 14.5 days before our first vacation (Labor Day), then only a month or so before Fall Break, only another month before Thanksgiving break (which is an entire week this year, hooray!), and then only a couple of weeks until the semester is complete, and we will be ready to welcome in 2009! I had to wonder, "Where does the time go?" Then, I began thinking of some of the sayings I've heard about time over the years. Here are a few:
"Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions." John Randolph
"Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it and spend it rather than invest it." Jim Rohn
"You may delay, but time will not. " AND
"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that the stuff life is made of." both from Benjamin Franklin
"Time is equal to life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life. " Alan Lakein
"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can send it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back." Harvey MacKay
Clearly, these folks seem to place a great deal of value in time, but they bemoan a general societal lack of ability to make valuable use of it. For instance, how many times have you heard someone say he or she could have done something better if only he or she had had more time? Have you yourelf ever felt as though you just had too much to do and too little time? (I'm sure you answered yes to at least one of those questions. If so, read on.) The ideas expressed in the quotes above beg the question: how much thought have you given to the way you use your time? Have you ever stopped to consider how much time you spend per day engaged in any given activity? You might be surprised if you made a conscious effort to do so.
Try something when school starts. Take a week or two and set aside a page or so of notebook paper per day (or you could do this in your planner). At the end of each day, jot down the approximate amount of time per day you spent doing each thing. Total up the amount of time you spend per day and per week in each particular type of activity.
Then make a note of the times of day in which you felt and actually were most productive and when you seemed sluggish and tired. You may also want to note whether you got what some people refer to as a "second wind" somewhere in the middle of the day.
After reviewing your results, consider these ideas for a moment:
"Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it."M. Scott Peck
"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste." Henry Ford
"There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing." Brian Tracy
"Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived. " Patrick Stewart, playing Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek
"To get all there is out of living, we must employ our time wisely, never being in too much of a hurry to stop and sip life, but never losing our sense of the enormous value of a minute." Robert Updegraff
"Time is the most precious element of human existence. The successful person knows how to put energy into time and how to draw success from time." Dennis Waitley
"You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. " Charles Bixton
"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing." Thomas Jefferson
"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein." H. Jackson Browne
These guys, that last one in particular, are a little harsher. They seem to be telling us we need to get off the couch, prioritize, make time for the important things, and savor them with gusto without complaining for a second. In looking at your time log, you may find areas of your day in which you could accomplish much more than you currently do. You may also find that you are trying to do tasks which require a great deal of effort and energy (be it physical, mental, or emotional) at your most sluggish, ineffective times of day. Take a look at where you can get things done most effectively, and you will probably find that you can open up big chunks of time you never thought you had. Luckily for us, there are a couple more quotes to encourage us on our way:
"This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." Michael Althsuler
At last--positive news!!!!!! The time you're in is fabulous if you can figure out how to master it, and you are in control of how you do it! With a little ingenuity, you can master your time and have a fruitful, enjoyable, successful year (not to mention life!).
I am going to embark on a schedule revamping myself--I have some priorities of my own, and I'd like to see if they will come to fruition if I try to carve out a little more time and use it more wisely. Want to join me and attempt to become a more successful time pilot? We'll probably find it easier if we have support in this process. Have a great weekend!
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