The Question of Time

Sometimes I'm asked about how I find the time to get everything done in my life. I do enjoy being busy and can juggle full time work with part time projects. I'm not sure if there's a secret to getting the most out of your time but I recently described it to a group in these terms:

Let's say you enjoy TV programs like American Idol. You like watching people chase their dreams, which can be fun. But are you more interested in watching someone else achieve their dreams, than in chasing your own? Maybe that answer help you prioritize your time.

I've found that the best time management practices often include a repurposing of "down time." In no way am I saying that you should stop enjoying TV and other sources of entertainment. But are you committing so much time to those programs that you're cheating yourself out of achieving your hopes and dreams?

It can be easy to fall into patterns where you pursue the comfortable and familiar and put off your goals until you, "get around to them."

To gauge an activity, ask these questions: Does it enrich me? Does it make me think? How will achieving my goal make me feel? Would it feel better than what I'm doing now?

The Lessons of Dreams

At a recent writing class, I was told to come up with either the first or the last line of a short story. Here are a few I created:

With the taste of cheap wine and cheddar cheese still in her mouth, Susan realized that the party had no escape hatch.

Kyle was willing to surrender the much coveted right side of the bed to the woman of his dreams.

Never again would Fido destroy another couch cushion, Rebecca thought, as she marched the dog into the Korean restaurant.

I found this to be a fun exercise. But here's the catch: I was in the class in a dream. I've never been in this kind of class in real life. While asleep our brains can come up with some wonderful idea. The challenge is making sure that you capture them as soon as you wake up. Otherwise, they'll likely be forgotten during the day.

That's why I always try to have a pen and paper close to my bed, so if I think of something interesting while asleep, I can write it down ASAP. Some people do the same thing with tape recorders. The trick is to make sure that you can later interpret what you wrote down or said as you may not be entirely conscious when you make the note!

Nightmare Scenario

At 2:17 in the morning, I knew I was going to fail the test. That's when I woke up from a nightmare. It was the typical, "I wasn't prepared for a test," type dream. My task involved having to summarize the events of the past year in a report and then tie them in to the National Football League. Worse yet, I was having trouble writing or finding a working keyboard (I'm sure experts on the subconscious could have a field day with this.)

I'm sure you're familiar with the sense of relief that comes when you realize that a nightmare was just a dream. That got me to thinking about how some are walking through nightmares every day, fearing something that could happen.

In my case, I can understand the fear of being unprepared for a test. But I have to admit that in all these years, I've always been well prepared for exams. So the fear is not based in any kind of reality. Therefore, based on past history, I should stop worrying about it because with the past as a predictor, that future won't happen.

This frees me up to worry about new things...like the economy.