“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”
~Michael Altshuler ~
If you have not read my last 2 blogs in this HOW TO GET MORE TIME series please do so here…
Time is one of the most important elements in life. Time is what life is made of. We all have the same amount of time in a day, no one gets more, no one gets less. Time is not about how much you have, it is about how you use it. So today I want to talk about being intentional with our time. I find that too many people live life as it comes rather than preparing for it. We spend more time planning our grocery list than we do our time. If we fail to plan our time we might as well plan to fail with our time.
I read this study about how much time is used in certain areas not too long ago. The average person spends…
6 months sitting at stoplights
8 months opening junk mail
1 year looking for misplaced items
2 years watching TV
5 years waiting in line
6 years eating
Time is basically broken up into 3 different quadrants. These quadrants are made up of 8 hour zones. Why 8 hours? Well, it is an average of the time we spend in the 3 different categories each day.
8 Hours of Sleep
8 Hours of Work
8 Hours of Personal Time
= 24 Hour Day
Of course some of this time fluctuates with work demands, sleep patterns, and weekends. However, as a general rule we will go with the 8 hour zones in a given day. Usually work time is pre-determined for us depending on your job situation so we are not going to jump into that now. Our sleep time is also a requirement. It is vital in order to survive and function. Side note, if you are not getting enough sleep it WILL diminish your productivity, or if you are getting too much sleep it will diminish your productivity as well. The key is to know exactly how much sleep you need and keep to it in order to get the most out of your day and alertness! So with those 2 categories filled up that leaves our 8 hour personal time left. This is where the MAGIC happens or doesn’t happen. Unless you have the luxury of setting your own work schedule the 8 hour personal zone is where the difference is made.
This 8 hour personal zone is where most people lose it. They zone out watching too much TV or sit around wasting precious time. Many times we are tired from our work day and just want to zone out, but if we zone out in one of the most important zones we will never do the things we want to do. If you are working towards a dream or goal this is where that happens. If you are working towards changing jobs and developing new skills, this is where that can happen. This zone is VITAL to your future. We need to plan our personal time zone just as much as we would our work zone, or grocery list, or vacation. We have to be intentional with our personal time or we will never move forward.
Our personal time is full of family time, entertainment, rest, goals, projects, hobbies, learning, reading, studying, developing new skills, serving, planning, etc…So without a clear intentional use of our personal time it can be overwhelming. We end up doing as the old proverbs says, “He who chases two rabbits never catches one.” We have to be aware and map out our personal time in order to get the most out of it. You have to decide what the right balance is for your personal time. How much family time do you need? How much personal quiet time do you need? How much time do you need for entertainment? Once you map that out, STICK TO IT!!! Let me say that again, STICK TO IT!!! If you decide that an hour of TV each night is a good balance of entertainment then stick to it, don’t veg out for hours and hours. Make sure you give yourself time in each area you want to spend it in.
I started doing this years ago when I realized I wasn’t doing things I really wanted to do. I love to paint, it refreshes me, and is a great joy for me to create, but if I do not schedule it in it won’t happen. Years ago I went about 6 months without painting at all, and I realized that if I wasn’t intentional about scheduling hobby time I would never do it. That time would get sucked away by other things. So now I even schedule out hobby time for myself in order to make sure I get that it for me. It is an important element for me, so I make sure I don’t go without it for too long. The point is, we have to schedule things in or they simply won’t happen. The key is to know what areas you want to spend time in and prioritize them. Many people get home and then try to figure out what they are going to do rather than taking the time to map it out. Before they know it, they whole evening is over and they are tired and want to go to bed. Or they are running like crazy trying to do 250 things but still feel they aren’t moving forward. What is important to you? What is non negotiable if you are going to do the things you need to do? What do you not want to say “No” to? Whatever those areas are you need to schedule it in consistently.
CHALLENGE #3
Sit down and make a list of what your personal time should consist of. Think about what a perfect day would look like if you could do everything you wanted to do. In the context of your personal time what would you do if you could do anything with that time? For example here is my list of things I do with my personal time (in general)…
Family Time (Movies/Games/Traveling/Play Time/Date Nights/ect…)
Painting
Writing (Music/Books)
Reading (Bible/Personal Growth Books)
Goal Setting (Future Planning/Business Planning)
After you have made your prioritized list now assign a rough time frame for each area. So for me I might give myself 3-4 hours with family, 1 hour of writing, 1 hour of reading, 1 hour of goal setting, etc… This changes each night of course, sometimes I give a large chunk to one area and another day a large chunk to another area instead of doing it all in one day. For example I may schedule a Wednesday for only family & writing time and save my goal setting for Thursday. When you look at your overall week you can start to assign days to certain areas and time frames for the areas. This will do AMAZING things for intentionality with your time. You will begin to get the most out of your time when you map it out. Find your balance and stick to it!
LESSON #3
Never start the day until it is mapped out from beginning to end
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