Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. ~Benjamin Franklin

How do you choose to spend your time? Are you proactively setting up your days to do what you really want to do?  This is what I’m thinking about today as I think about the gift of time we all are given.  We are all busy, but we can always make time for what we love and want, if we know what it is we really want and how to plan for it and do the work.

We all are given equal hours every day. No one is different in this context. Whether you’re the President of the United States, a mom, a CEO, a student, an employee, a child, we all get the same number of hours. How fair is that? I kinda like that thought. So it’s up to us and our circumstances how we choose to live them up.

The other day I was listening to a 30 minute podcast by Jessica Herrin, the founder of Stella & Dot, in the car while I was driving home from the gym.  She was talking about this subject of time mastery and I was totally intrigued how she described time as needing to be mastered versus managed.  We have to link what we choose to do with our core values and be sure to set boundaries to protect our time. We have to learn to say no and to not feel guilty when we choose to say yes to time spent doing what we’re good at and what we want to do.

Right now I’m thinking about my time on the micro level and planning how I want to choose to spend my hours on any given day. I’d like to get better at this and practice mapping out bigger projects too, so they actually get done versus just me thinking about doing them. I practiced assigning tasks that I’ve been wanting to complete to the hour or half hour windows that were open throughout my day. The cool thing is that my task list suddenly became a priority and I have been able to say no to other distractions.  And guess what? I am getting things done that I’ve been wanting to do and the procrastination and time spent on social media and gaming has decreased dramatically. I learned that many times when I don’t know what I want to do, time gets sucked into the vortex of online screen time and house cleaning. Those things are always there and “want” my attention. I want to be more accountable for my time and with the choices I’m making to make my time more meaningful. I want to carve out some time to be creative, mindful, to read, to be a better friend, to exercise, and to sleep more, in addition to my responsibilities. And so I am.

How are you choosing to spend your hours?

One last thought, before I get to bed early tonight since I’m actively choosing to get more sleep… I am fully aware how quickly a year goes by after living overseas for a year and being back again already for four months now. When you’re in the moment, it feels like forever. But looking back, I realize and can feel how fast that year sped by and it’s already gone. Where did the time go?  I know… it’s just a rhetorical question… Good night.

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”
Seneca