I have a confession to make. I think time will wait for me. Yes, completely irrational. I look at the clock, and see that I have 10 minutes left to get ready to head out to make my appointment on time. As I complete preparations somehow I think the clock is still at 10 minutes ‘til. Absurd. Time is waiting for me, right? When I am ready then it will be time to go. And the clock and all of life will fall into line for me.
Never happens to you? Hmmm How often are you late? How often do you take on more than you can possibly do in the allotted time? Maybe you procrastinate and put things off until “someday”, fooling yourself into actually thinking you will get to it.
And so life seems to happen To us and we are along for the ride. To live intentionally we need planning, a structure, commitment and a big dose of grace.
When my children were young we had a dog, Wesley. He was a mutt with some setter and dalmation and a sweet disposition who wanted to please. Wesley had been abandoned and rescued by PAWS, where we adopted him. He had separation anxiety as a result and would get very nervous if he was left alone. He would run around the house, getting into everything he could just to use up his nervous energy. We had a scare when he got into the chocolate brownies on the kitchen counter and ate them all.
We learned that keeping him contained helped. We would attach the end of his leash to the inside of the closet door handle and close the door, and attach him to the other end. This kept him with a short distance to move around. His bed was beside the door along with his favorite chew toy.
Being kept within the confines of boundaries gave Wesley a sense of security. He was much calmer. What he at first resisted was actually what he needed.
Like Wesley I find that I need a “short leash” of structure to be most productive. Without a plan I can get very busy while getting nothing done. As much as I can resist it, it is what I need.
Children who grow up with permissive parenting and are not taught clear boundaries are often prone to acting out. They are more likely to have poor time-management skills, depression, anxiety disorders, and other challenges. There is security in knowing their boundaries and having parents who consistently enforce the boundaries.
Boundaries come in different ways. Some are imposed on us and others we create.
I find that time is a reliable boundary. We can’t manufacture more of it. We can’t wish it or think it into being. We can’t deny the passing of it into reality.
So we are left with the task of managing ourselves within the confines of it. The clock is not standing still, time and life will not wait for you or for me.
We are entering the 3rd quarter of the year. We have 3 months left. What would you like to accomplish between now and 2025?
Maybe you’d like to:
- Read a certain amount of books
- Clean out and organize the garage, a closet, your filing system
- Start and stick with a plan to get in better health
- Finish that house project
- Embark on a new career
- Develop a productive habit to replace an unproductive one
- Or…?
Imagine how you would feel if you actually did it. Imagine the impact it could have in your life. It could be the start of a more intentional life that you create.
Ready, Set, Go!
Plan out the big picture. How long do you expect it will take you to complete it?
- Divide it into bite-size pieces.
- Design structure by assigning a day and time for each piece
- Create time boundaries to keep you accountable .
- Build in some cushion for unexpected events and time constraints.
- Check in, measure your progress & how much time you have left to complete it.
- Adjust the size of your bite-sized pieces as needed.
- Stay with it. If you get off track, allow yourself some grace and get back on.
- Stay committed!
Starting “someday” doesn’t work. Someday is now.
Beyond 2024, what would you like to accomplish in the next year, the next 5 or 10 years? With the rest of your life? It is passing. It’s not waiting for you to make up your mind and create a plan.
I would love to know what you are working to accomplish and how you are doing. Leave me comments. Let’s celebrate together!
Time doesn’t care if you keep your promises to yourself. But you will.
It was Good Friday afternoon in Southern California. I was 16 and had spent the day at Newport Beach. My parents were having friends for dinner and I was expected to be there.
Things were always a little tense when my parents were entertaining. Like most of us we want to put our best foot forward. We want to look good and we want our guests to be comfortable and cared for. My dad was especially a stickler for things being just right.
So I knew it was in my best interest to make sure I got home on time. My habit was to underestimate the time it would take me for any given deadline.
As I approached the freeway to go home I was shocked and worried to see the freeway jam-packed. Cars were moving at a snails pace. People getting out of town for the Easter weekend. I was never going to make it.
I noticed that the traffic going in the other direction was moving quite nicely so I decided to get on the freeway in that direction, away from my home.
Okay, I hear you saying “Huh?!!” But I had a plan.
I would get off onto a side road and take back roads or find another freeway going in the right direction that wasn’t so crowded. Mind you this was before cell phones with wonderful voices telling you all the possible ways to get from Point A to Point B. And before Thomas guides, I think. I know I didn’t have one. Just my own very faulty sense of direction and a ton of youthful optimism.
So onto the freeway I went. I was breezing along, getting further from home and finding no alternate routes. I was getting more and more nervous as I realized I was not going to make it home on time. (Where was I anyway?) And that if I didn’t find something soon I was destined to sit even longer in that now longer line of traffic I had tried to avoid.
I finally had to get off the freeway and find a pay phone. Remember, no cell phones to call either, or text. So I had to call home and tell them I would be late and why. I was hoping my mom would answer-another down side of landlines, you never knew who would answer-but alas my dad did. To say the least he was not happy. And he wasn’t buying my story about why I was now 40 miles away from home instead of the 10 miles from the beach. (I think he gave me way too much credit for my decision-making abilities). He assured me there would be more “discussion” when I got home.
The long, slow drive home was one of anticipation of the consequences that awaited me.
When I slithered in the door an hour and a half later I was relieved to find the guests had sweetened my dad’s mood and I was able to escape the wrath I feared.
What I learned:
Trying to save time can end up costing more time.
And that going in the opposite direction of where you want to go is seldom a good idea.
I can assure you I have not made the mistake of getting on the freeway going the wrong direction without a clear understanding of what my options were. However I have made this same mistake in judgement many times.
I have often been short-sighted-taking the “quick and easy way” only to have it yield more work and more time in the long run. I would rather jump into a project and figure it out as I go than make a detailed plan.
In my defense (excuse) I am not a natural planner. I don’t have that gene. My sister does, more about that here. I got the unstructured, think outside the box, no time for the mundane planning and filing and organizing gene. Who has time for that? I am busy getting things done. And often spinning my wheels. The hamster on the wheel that can’t see that she is going nowhere fast. But busy means important, right?
I can jump on an idea quickly and set out to implement it before thinking it through. I’m a doer not a planner. Hah! Just get on the freeway with the least traffic and hope for the best. Stopping to calculate the possible outcomes just wastes time. Hmmm
Add another project to my week-sure. Stop what I am working on to jump to something else more interesting-sure. “Somehow” I will get it all done.
Putting things off by being “too busy” and ending up spending more time. Case in point-I don’t like filing paperwork. I have more “urgent” and “important” things to do. Until I need to locate an important document asap. What would have taken me less than a minute to file now can take me an hour to sort through the piles of “someday”.
Accepting a job, a project before thinking of the long-range implications. Will this get me closer to what I really want or delay my getting it? An opportunity or a detour?
What example would you add? We all have them.
That Good Friday I I wasted precious time, gas, and peace of mind by thinking I could find a shortcut without properly thinking it through. As time went on and I made more mistakes and suffered the consequences I lost confidence in my ability to make decisions. I lost some of my natural fun-loving spontaneity. Life got too serious when I was afraid of making mistakes.
Where is the balance? Whether we are naturally organized and a planner or naturally spontaneous and unstructured we need to be aware of the pitfalls of overdoing our natural tendencies.
For me the challenge is creating and keeping some structure in my life-a loose schedule that is flexible to a point, while maintaining the non-negotiables. By creating and keeping good habits-that dreaded D word-Discipline. It’s worth the effort.
I need to make sure I take time to consider a new idea or direction. Count the cost and the benefit. What looks great at the beginning (new and shiny) may cost more than I am willing to give.
Resist the temptation to get bogged down in a decision. Realize every decision is a risk. After due diligence and prayer, if I decide to proceed, determine if I will cautiously move forward or full on. Is there a pivot plan and an exit strategy? This is a good deterrent to impulsive decision-making. It’s also needed reassurance when my best laid plans don’t work out.
For the planner the overdoing shows up in being too rigid and slow to change. The balance comes in keeping the door open to some spontaneity. Being able to leave the flexible items on your to-do list aside for an unplanned trip to the beach or a visit with a friend. Being open to those promptings from God to do something outside of your comfort zone
Building margin into your schedule for opportunities for fun or helping someone out
Being willing to consider new ideas
One of the biggest responsibilities we possess is how we will use our time. It is the one resource that is non-renewable. There will always be unexpected drains on it. If we work to maintain a balance of structure, good habits and flexibility we will gain more confidence, be more resilient, and more fun.
“Doing things right is efficiency
Doing the right things is effective”
If you liked this post please leave me a comment. What is your time-waster?
Growing up my older sister was 2 years older than me. (Amazingly she still is.) She was neat and tidy. Very organized. I, on the other hand was always going from one project to another leaving a trail behind me. During the years that we shared a bedroom (sorry, Sis) our mom drew a line down the middle of the room to help me keep my mess separate from her tidy.
As a kid I didn’t care, I had more important things to do. My unstructured mind was energized by creating something new, not at all interested in neatly folded sweaters and organized closets. As an adult, a wife and mother, being responsible for others beside myself, I recognized the benefits of being more organized. Of being able to find what I needed without a two-hour (or more) hunt for it. The more I realized where I wanted to be and that I wasn’t there the more I felt “not enough”. I always felt inferior to Sis. On a deeper level that “not enough” in comparison created some resentment and a hindrance to love.
This continued into much of my adult life. One day I concluded that she was just more disciplined.That she was so much better than I was because she developed and stuck to good habits. I needed to own that and do better. When I told her what I came up with her response was, “No, I just really enjoy organizing. I love the process.” That was a completely foreign idea to me.
Aha! So she is doing what she loves. I don’t love alphabetizing my spice cupboard. That doesn’t make me wrong, or her wrong. Just different.
It is amazing the destructive power of false guilt. And the freedom when we are released from it.
I didn’t beat myself up anymore comparing to her and others. As time went on and I dabbled in this area, I realized I liked the peace of a more organized life. Now it was my value, not anyone else’s. I wasn’t trying to change to be like her or like Marie Kondo, or anyone else. I was intentionally setting my own values and discovering ways to be true to them.
We are all designed with different strengths, skills and interests. They aren’t good or bad, just different to make us our own kind of beautiful. We are born with certain personality strengths and skills and to a certain extent our interests. We choose our values, intentionally or subconsciously.
Are you comparing yourself to someone else and coming up short? Are you trying to live someone else’s design or your own?
The best part of what I learned? I was free to love Sis and not compare and resent.
What do you think of when you think of grace? A graceful person perhaps? Someone who moves through life with ease?
As a young teen I grew quickly. My long legs became a constant challenge to me. My mother would say that walls bumped into me and that I could trip over threads in the carpet. I seemed to constantly have bruises and bumps. To remedy this my mom enrolled me in the "Wendy Ward Charm School".
Read more...
We are all familiar with the feeling of unforgiveness. That tightness when we think of that person. The hurt, anger, sadness that can ruin our moment, our day, our life.
We often misunderstand what forgiveness is. It's easy to think that if we choose to forgive we are telling ourselves that what they did wasn’t important and that the pain from the consequences doesn’t matter.
The Mayo Clinic published an insightful article on forgiveness:
“Forgiveness means different things to different people. But in general, it involves an intentional decision to let go of resentment and anger.”
