And the Clock Keeps Ticking Away…
First Listed January 25, 2010
Fixation on Time
I’m not sure if it’s the profession I’ve been in for the past 18 years or my past conditioning that has me so ‘fixated on time’, but one of my intentions for this year is to not be so darned focused on the clock.
It’s a hard habit to break, being that I work by appointment - either in 15, 30, 45, 90 or 120-minute increments. Plus I want to be ‘on time’ for work since I have clients expecting me to start their appointment on time. Then there’s the ‘time to eat’ that hopefully will happen somewhere between client appointments.
I find myself having to set the ‘time’ on my alarm on the days I work so I get up early enough to be ‘on time’. Then I have to figure out what ‘time’ I have to get in the shower so that I’m ready to leave the house to be on ‘time’ for work. And make sure I have enough ‘time’ to walk my dog before I get in the shower too.
Phew…..see what I mean, lots of this ‘time’ stuff happening even before the wee morning hours are over.
Time is an Illusion
I realize that time is an illusion – that it doesn’t really exist – we make it exist.
No matter what time it is, stuff always happens in the present moment – in the Now. Even when you think about the past, you’re thinking about it in the Now. If you think about a future event, when that event occurs, it occurs in the Now. This is dealing more with ‘psychological’ time.
Of course we need time to function in this world – to set up the practical aspects of our life such as appointments, to know when to meet our friend for lunch, to be on time for a particular event we are interested in seeing, etc. Without it, life could be quite chaotic in a sense. I could just picture people running around, just missing each other or never getting what they need because the store closed at a particular time. This is dealing more with ‘clock’ time, which seems to be more of an issue for me.
So why does time make me so miserable at times?
Actually, time doesn’t make me miserable – I make myself miserable! It’s my relationship to the clock that I have to adjust. And it all comes down to what do I have to do to make my energy flow better when it comes to managing time.
I’m working on this and figuring out the best way to do it that feels like a fit for me. I did start one thing today that seemed to help.
I got a decent sized poster board and on a piece of paper I wrote my top 3-4 things I wanted to get done today and then taped it to the poster board.
I was able to cross off two of those things, and I’m just about to cross off a third. So it seemed to work. I’m going to try this for a while and see how it goes.
Another thing I always do is take time for myself daily – without that, I’d really have a problem! And of course I use the power of Aromatherapy to help me stay focused. But I’d love to hear other techniques!
So what do you think about time?
What’s your relationship with it? Do you have any great time management strategies?
Please share, I need all the help I can get!
Inhale~Enjoy~Exhale,
Gina
Ellen on Tue, 26th Jan 2010 4:50 am
Gina, thanks for raising this topic–one I struggle with also. One thing I’ve always done in scheduling my days that really makes a difference is to “schedule” a margin for the unknown. As a mom, especially, I realize I can’t always anticipate what others will need, but I do know that something unexpected always comes up. I always leave room in my day for that something, which means I have time to meet the needs of the people around me, even when those needs were unforeseen. One other thing: I don’t worry as much anymore about getting to the bottom of my to-do list because I never will. And if I do, I’ll just make another list. Instead I ask myself if I did what was most important to me each day. This way of thinking improves my peace of mind.
Gina on Tue, 26th Jan 2010 8:50 am
Thanks for your input Ellen. Everything helps! I’ve found myself a bit off-center for the last week and things usually start to feel overwhelming for me when I get like this. But I am getting back on track starting today. Slowly, but surely I will come back to center – just more practice and growth
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Donna Maria Coles Johnson on Sun, 31st Jan 2010 4:20 pm
Gina: I’m afraid I have the same relationship with time that you do. I never have enough of it. Recently, it has helped that I have started to use Apple’s iCal in conjunction with my iPhone. Syncing the two together helps me schedule everything, including “me” time. I have also begun to time projects so I can give myself an appropriate amount of time to finish them. For example, my newsletter should usually take about the same amount of time to prepare each week. I have started to set aside that amount of time only for it, and it seems to help me remain focused if I can see my time running out. I won’t take that phone call or check my email for example, if I know I have only 2 hours to do something. I can just plow through in 2 hours, and be done! I find that working in time blocks help. I suppose you have this already, at least where your salon is concerned, right? Anyway, hope this helps! Thanks!
Gina on Sun, 31st Jan 2010 7:07 pm
Thanks dM! I also use ical and it automatically syncs with my macbook and iphone – this is such a great help and I also set alerts a lot in ical because with all I have to do, I’d forget half of it if I didn’t use the alerts!
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My next step is to do like you do and set times up for myself to plow through some projects.
I find that when I start my day off with time for myself, be it even 5 minutes (and I have a great idea with this system and I may be creating an e-book about it) to just get centered, my day flows more, I get less distracted, and I get more done.
I just need to always do this first thing, if I don’t, that’s when I can get off-center and into trouble
Thanks for your help – I appreciate it.