what is the best use of your time right now?
by bill reeb
all of us, no matter what our income, gender, race, religion, origin, have the same amount of time – 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year. each of us has the same capacity. the question is how we use it.
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for most of us, you can carve out roughly 3,000 of those hours for sleep. even if you don’t need eight hours, you need some time to sleep, and that number cuts a big hole into your available capacity.
from there, you have to decide what to do with the rest of your availability. choices have consequences, so be aware of the impact your decisions will make. for example, if you need to crunch out a lot of work in the next 120 hours, then you will likely be robbing time from your sleep, your family, physical activity to stay in shape, and other normal daily activities.
while this is likely not a problem in the short term, the longer you stretch your capacity in an unbalanced way, the more you are putting at risk. for instance, if you ignore your family for four months because you allowed work to consume you, don’t be surprised if your family drifts away from you. at some point of neglect, they could drift far enough away that permanent damage will occur in those relationships. or, if you don’t take regular care of your body and stay in shape, don’t be surprised when you have low energy, weight gain, health problems and more.
experiencing overloads in one aspect of life over another is normal for overachievers; the key is to not let them get too out of balance for too long.
i remember reading the old book “how to get control of your time and your life” by alan lakein. it was part of our reading assignment when i joined ibm in my 20s. and though i have forgotten most everything i read, i will always remember the question that alan posed to help manage one’s life and time, which was this: “what is the best use of my time right now?”
the question wasn’t about what “to-do’s” i could easily cross off of my list, or how many line items i could complete in the shortest amount of time, but rather, what is the best use of my time right now. this is about operating in the present. it is about making headway on whatever is important to you rather than always allowing the urgent to consume all available resources.
because we all have the same capacity, doesn’t it make sense that the focus should be on using your time effectively every day regardless of what you are doing (relaxation, work, relationships, staying in shape and so on)? when you take this approach, you will find yourself maximizing your capacity and living a happier, healthier, sustainable lifestyle.
but through it all, also be accepting of the notion that we make tradeoffs every day as we manage the many objectives that are important to us. when you find frustration in where you are, which can occur often, just answer the question regarding the best use of your time right now; this will help get you back on your path, putting one foot in front of the other until you get there.
assess yourself on how regularly you ask yourself what is the best use of my time right now. circle how you feel you are doing. on this subject, i:
- need a lot of work
- need a little work
- am okay
- feel good where i am
how often do i find myself spending a lot of time on issues that are not that important to me but i just want to cross them off my list?
what am i avoiding that is the best use of my time, but it seems overwhelming to approach?