Sunday, March 21, 2010

Time

A friend left a message for me the other day and prefaced it with, “I know we are both so busy right now.” Then she paused and added, “and when are we not?!” Which got me to thinking, how did we get stuck in the perpetual state of scrambling for time, feeling like there is never enough?

We have a neighbor from Algeria, he always jokes that Americans are rich with money but poor with time and Algerians are just the opposite. What an insightful and challenging statement.

I think half the struggle with time is our frantic fear that there is never enough. We try to squeeze activities out of every second and yet are unconscious of the distractions which suck away our time from our true passions and creative pursuits.

Barbara DeMarco- Barrett in her book, Pen on Fire, explains how we trick ourselves into thinking we need more time than we do to be creative. We can only use the time we have, but we have to be intentional about how we spend it or we fritter it away.

So, I am trying to be intentional this week with my time, to sit down and write, even if it’s only for 15 minutes, to spend time with people rather than with projects. I am determined to fight the lie that there is never enough time and believe instead that there is just enough.

How do you decide what is worthy of your time? So how are you spending your time this week?

3 comments:

  1. Time IS the great equalizer. They say time is money but as James Taylor says "money can't buy you time" We are all given 24 hrs a day. i applaud you in determining to discipline yourself to write and...to put people before projects. This week I am going to be more deliberate to enjoy every moment and not waste energy and time worrying about the past or the future.

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  2. Kate, I have a terrible time prioritizing and allotting my time. I just do what's in front of me, or what I prefer, and as a result things that I consider would be important in the long term but which are an effort in the short term, do not get completed. Like my novel!

    What I do more of now than I used to is not think too much about the future and how that might look. I used to always be anticipating what was next - while I don't exactly live 'in the moment' all the time, I'm getting better at it.

    Barbara DeMarco's quote is excellent. Truly brilliant. Even little snippets of time given to a project will accumulate into something significant. Thanks a lot for that!! Very good post.

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  3. JRD- Money really can't buy time. How necessary that is to remember. Words of wisdom as always- thank you!

    Deborah- Thinking too much of the future really can be a trap fraught with worry! Living in the moment is such a worthwhile challenge. While planning is essential in many areas of life, your comment was so insightful concerning the impossibility of know how the future will look. Thank you for your thoughts and constant encouragement.

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