Ripples #874: Spending Time!
Feb 22, 2016
PEBBLE
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
-Carl Sandburg, shared by Pete in Sedona, AZ
BOULDER
Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there’s a tomorrow. Maybe for you there’s one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there’s only today. And the truth is, you never really know.
-Lauren Oliver, shared by Tina in Centreville, VA
PONDER
Last week I enjoyed hanging out with a few hundred school counselors from around Wisconsin (way to Heat it Up, WSCA!). One of my sessions was on time management and we spent some of our precious time together talking about the occasional incongruence between our VALUES (what we say is important to us), and our SCHEDULE (how we spend our time). We briefly daydreamed about how we might choose to spend the next few weeks if there was a chance we might soon be getting “transferred to another planet,” or what they might do if they were given an 8th day each week to spend however they choose.
The idea is to get you thinking about HOW you want to spend your time; WHO you want to be around, and WHERE you want be. The next step is to pull out your schedule and actually look for evidence that you’re currently blocking time on those activities, people and places. If they aren’t on your calendar, then it is possible that your SCHEDULE is out of whack with your VALUES. Tweaking your schedule might bring it more in line with what is important to you, which could lead to an increase in both work effectiveness and life satisfaction.
I invite you to ponder WHO and WHAT is missing from your schedule, and ponder whether making a few minor changes might create some ripples of goodness for you and others.
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
