Without Dash

I have been quite busy lately with anything but blogging. Some days I was really busy and did not have time. Some days I just felt really busy and did make any time. And some days I did not do anything useful at all and time went by even faster than usual. A little time management and a good feeling help me to do 101 things in a day. But a nice DVD and a cup of tea could be enough to distract me from “busy busy busy” like everyone else. This inspired me to write something on guarding our time.

1. Start looking honestly and critically at your own behavior. Analyze why you always seem to run out of time. The answer can be quite confronting and might reveal a side of yourself that you’d rather not know. Are you wasting a lot of time on a relationship that is not worthwhile? Or are you spending a little too much time surfing aimlessly on the Internet?
   Your well-being is under threat when you do not take your responsibilities and let things run down. Besides, psychological research shows that people feel better when they feel in control of their situation. So, the first step is to take matters in your own hand.
2. Happiness is a choice. Don’t be afraid to choose for yourself. Making choices and setting priorities is not easy for everyone. Especially for mothers with small children, it seems that there are no choices; there is always something that needs to be done. To save time it seems obvious to drop the fun things. But this is not always a solution. Set your priorities and live up to it. Do not be afraid to admit that you are wearing an unironed shirt because you went to get a facial yesterday.
3. It is not necessary to cook a complete meal every day. Sometimes it is much more fun to spontaneously take the kids to play mini golf late in the afternoon and fix a microwave meal afterwards. Do not panic if that meal is for once not very healthy. Kids also grow with love and attention.
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
Albert Einstein
4. Saving time can be done easily by lowering the standard in housekeeping. Vacuuming the house every day is not necessary, just as you do not need to change the sheets of all beds at once. And are there still people out there who iron their bed sheets?
   Take an example of our men. They are not worried about our housekeeping (as long as there is food…) and couldn’t care less if you mopped the kitchen floor or not. When they do dishes, they do just that. Men do not see the stained sink, the grease spotted stove, or the cluttered countertop. Do not complain about how he does the chores, but be glad of a helping hand.
5. If you are working on that big home cooked dinner, that you value so much, why not cook double portions and freeze them. Next week you can have a healthy home cooked meal within minutes. The same counts for shopping. Make a menu for a whole week and do your groceries once a week.
6. Are you still working in the evening? It may sound very simple, but to set priorities at work takes some practice. Only by doing it you will see the benefits. And learn to see the consequences of not setting priorities. Many people in their thirties are not very assertive when it comes to time management. For fear of less appreciation they often do not want to say ‘no’ to unreasonable requests of their managers or bosses. It could take two or three years of sleep deprivation, loss of concentration and more before ending up with a burn-out.
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
Stephen King
7. Learn to recognize the difference between energy eating activities and energizing activities. A visit to the gym might take two hours of your precious time, but because you will gain much energy from it, it cannot be counted as lost time. After working out you will feel fit and mentally stronger. The same counts for your job. If it only exhausts you every day, it is time to make up the balance and see it this job fits you well or not. The right job will not exhaust you, but energize you instead.
8. The danger of an overfull schedule is chronic sleep deprivation. Especially in the last few years we see that the effects of not sleeping enough are not as innocent as we thought it was. It is really important to guard your sleeping hours.

Tags: self improvement