Family Time | Social Time | Physical Health Time
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Spiritual Time
We allocate time on a daily basis to the people and activities which we value the most. Time management is a function of our values. Whether we realize it or not, we display our values each and every minute of the day by how we spend out time. Since that’s the case, this is a great time to begin allocating your time intentionally.
How would you rate how well your life is balanced? If you were to create a bar graph in a spreadsheet that showed how well you’re doing based upon your potential in every area of your life, would the height of each of the bars be equal or are you doing significantly better in some areas of your life than in others?
If you said that you’re doing much better in some areas than others, you’d me among the vast majority of people. Why is that?
According to estimates, most people – approximately 97% – do not have goals. Without goals, we’re taking life my chance and not intentionally creating the ideal life. Once you’ve decided what your goals are in every area of your life in which you’d like to improve, you can then prioritize them according to your values – most important to least important.
A next logical step would be to create and allocate specific times on your calendar on a daily basis for the people and activities that you value most.
During what time of the day will I exercise tomorrow? For how long?
When will I be able to call or visit my Mom?
Will I be able to be with my family for at least one family meal? Breakfast? Dinner?
When will I have silent time for meditation or prayer or yoga?
When will I begin work and commit to leaving work?
There are certain things that you and I allocate time for EVERY day – meals, bathing, etc. Some people allocate specific time for watching the news, reading the newspaper and other activities. Would you like to add specific time every day to invest in yourself, your family, your community?
By following the exact same process that we use for meals and bathing, we can deliberately allocate time every day for the things that we value but, are currently not doing.
When we increase our expectations of what we’re able to accomplish on a daily basis because of our new priorities, we end up accomplishing what we value most and become more productive with our time. DId you ever notice that on the days where you have a lot to accomplish, you accomplish a lot? We have that same potential every day. When we intend to accomplish a lot, we end-up wasting very little time.
Habits and routines are good things when they’re good habits and good routines. Setting new goals and priorities causes us to modify our existing routines and habits to make room for our new valuable habits.
Some of us are morning people and others are night owls. There is no right time of day to accomplish what your heart desires. The key is to be deliberate about routinely blocking time on your calendar for the activities that you value the most. When that activity reminder pops us on your calendar, it’s time to switch gears.
Sometimes a calendar pop-up triggers the transition from one part of our life to the next.
Sometimes it’s a venue change – from work to home.
Sometimes it’s a change of clothing that triggers that it’s time to enter another segment of my life which I value.
By compartmentalizing your life into activities that are of most importance to you, you’re also saying no to activities that are of lesser or no value. When you’ve committed time on your calendar to yourself or to another person that you value, it makes it easy to say no to the extra demands from others.
Are any of you old enough to remember the old children’s television show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood? I watched that show on a daily basis as a young boy. Mr. Rogers used a sweater (zippered cardigan) to signal when it was time to leave his land of make believe and go back to the reality of his every day life. When in the land of make believe, he always had on his cardigan. When he left, the cardigan would go into the closet and he’d transition into another jacket which signaled to him that this compartment of his day had ended and it is now time to enter another segment of the day.
You and I can accomplish the same thing with clothing, calendars and/or deliberate venue changes.
I’m a morning person. As soon as I awaken in the morning, I take off my pajamas and immediately put-on exercise clothing. That initial clothing change signifies that the body rest time of day has ended and it’s now time to invest in my personal health (no excuses) time of day. While in my workout clothing, I meditate, pray, read the bible, eat breakfast and recite affirmations from the solitude of my home (or hotel room when traveling). After I finish with that routine, it’s off to the gym to exercise my body. I choose this time of day for these activities because I’m a morning person and because this is a no excuses time of day for me. Most of the world has not interest in speaking or meeting with me during this Bob Time. This is a sacred of time each day in which I invest in the health of my entire being.
Once I’m finished at the gym, I shower and put on clothing for work. Depending on the day, it will be either business attire to speak in front of a group or shorts or jeans if it’s a day to write or be on the radio. Again, the change of clothing signifies that the mind/body/spirit time of my day has ended and it’s now time for the business portion of the day.
If I’m working around my home, my wife and I agree on what time we’ll be eating lunch and dinner together and who’s responsible for dinner preparation. Once the time and roles are agreed upon, I know exactly when my business day will end and when I’ll transition into time that is dedicated 100% to my wife (and children when they’re home). Because lunch and dinner have to do with food, and because I’ve been known to occasionally spill food (only on good clothing, never on clothes that I don’t care about), my transition into lunch and dinner happen with one of my favorite aprons. Yes, I said an apron. Not just any apron either. One of my favorites is an apron that looks like a men’s black-tie and tuxedo. I’ve been wearing that apron since 1998 (I got it at a computer trade show many moons ago in New Orleans and there is a date at the bottom). My family and friends know that I always wear an apron while in the kitchen and during meals. The apron is a sign of family, food, friends and entertaining. Our friends – Dreana and Greg – bought me a fire-engine red apron from Newport, RI last summer which reads, I may be crabby but, I’m cute! The aprons are a signal to me that I’ve finished work and am now focused on family and food.
If the evening does not require leaving the home, at some point after dinner in the early evening, I’ll transition into my best Hugh Hefner attire which signals that it’s time to relax with family, read the paper and transition into sleep time.
When we know what the ideal day should look like, it’s easy to intentionally create it. Using a calendar to block-off time, clothing-changes and venue changes are three ways of compartmentalizing your life so that one area of life does not encroach upon and steal time from any of the other important areas in which you choose to grow.
