Time

Breath, just for a moment... relax, breath again. Stop reading. Breath...

There, that's where I want you to be. I've got time, how about you?

Our lives are caught up in what we do every day. The need to get there and do that or run to make that train or catch this dinner party with that person. It's appointment and deadlines, time crunches and little snippets like EOD, EOW or simply 'by 5 o'clock'.

I'm one of those people. I love chaos and deadlines and the feeling you get when you're pushing to produce under the gun and then you realize you're going to need to push a little more, and you do. I am one of those people and I value those types of people that operate like me.

But with all of that - the fluttering and the flurry - I have come to enjoy my time that is not like that. When the clock stops moving or I just stop paying attention to it. When dinner is simmering and the phone has gone dead and all that lies between you and responsibility is 1, 2 or 10 hours (although I do think a week is best).

I sat and watched my Chili simmer on the stove last night and read a sophisticated magazine. It was wonderful. No need to do much more, I had no where to be and no one to see and it made me realize that those moments are as important as the busy ones when I'm meeting deadlines.

As I sat there, I looked at my magazine and realized for the first time in two months how much I enjoyed learning from it. In fact over the course of the last two months I had forgotten why I had subscribed to it in the first place.

I may have even made a promise to myself last night. It think it went like this: take a night off, do it every week. Intentionally leave a massive gaping hole in your schedule and make the time something sacred.

I think it will help me be more chaotic.

Shoe Laces and time management

Your shoe laces can tell you a lot about yourself. In my case, I believe they tell me that I'm willing to stop what I'm doing and invest my time and energy into something to get it done or make it right. Before you get totally lost, let me explain.

The other morning, I was getting ready for work. The last piece of my 'fit' is always a pair of shoes. As a slight shoe aficionado (I said slight!) I appreciate what I put on my feet and I want to make sure they are in good working order. This particular morning I was putting on a pair of shoes and I saw that the laces had been pulled so that one end was significantly longer than the other. The shoe was tie-able in the current state but it was clear that it wasn't quite right.

It was at this moment that I had a couple options. I could have kept going, tied the shoe and dealt with it later. Or, I could have stopped, unlaced the shoe and corrected the imbalance. I chose the latter and fixed the lace.

By fixing the lace when I saw the problem I was trying to reinforce a time management practice that I have recently picked up. The idea is if you need to do something that takes less than 2 minutes, do it now. If it takes more than 2 minutes, list it, prioritize and make time to deal with those things appropriately.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I always take this route. I would like to think I do, but I get lazy like everyone else, but I do believe I try to do it a majority of the time.

When I see something that can be fixed quickly, I try to take the initiative to get it done quickly. I'm not looking for praise or credit, I just want to be known over the long haul as someone who gets it done and gets it done well.

What are your time management practices?