Waste Not, Want Not
Thus the time we are given is not brief, but we make it so. We do not lack time; on the contrary, there is so much of it that we waste an awful lot.
~Seneca
Do you ever get to the end of the day and wonder how in the world you spend the last 15–18 hours? That seems like such a long time, but how often do we feel like we’ve accomplished absolutely nothing by the end of the day? How much of our days do we sit around and wait for something to happen?
I wake up around 6:00 every morning. Every. Morning. I don’t always get out of bed right away. In fact, if I did, I probably would feel like I’ve gotten more accomplished. Mornings are spent getting myself and my kids ready for the day and off to wherever they need to be — school, daycare, etc. I feed the dog and let her out, then let her back in, then let her out again after she’s been in for 10 minutes — it’s a daily routine. By the time I get settled into the office, it’s about 8:45–9:00. I’ve already been awake for three hours, and feel like I’ve accomplished very little.
For the last three months, I’ve had a morning office routine that involves writing out Scripture, a time of study (I’m working through Revelation right now, and it’s a lot!), and then I write out one of these short posts and schedule it to post in the afternoon. If I’m feeling really ambitious or energetic, I’ll write out a couple. I have about 25 drafts now, so I’m not running out of things to write about for at least a month. By the time I look up, it’s usually 10:30/11:00.
Now, of course, each day is different. It has it’s own challenges and schedules. I’m a routine-driven person, so this is what a typical morning looks like, but even I realize that not every day can be like this. I try to be flexible with my schedule, which is much easier when I know things ahead of time.
If you ever really want to get an idea of what your day looks like, take some time and do what I just did above. Think through your typical day and be realistic with yourself. Do a time audit. Chances are, you’ll see that you actually spend a lot of time doing things that aren’t necessary to your day. It just passes the time.
And, don’t get me wrong, we all need some breaks. We all need some down time. But what I’ve found in my own life is that I take too much down time, and it puts me behind where I need to be, and then I stress out about getting things down. It really boils down to better time and energy management, which is easier said than done.
I think what Seneca says here rings true, though. I’m not suggesting that every minute of every day needs to be laid out and structured for productivity. I think that’s one of the great lies of our time. But, we do need to be intentional about how we spend our time. If we need down time and breaks, great, schedule them, but don’t just launch into them without some kind of plan on how your going to tackle the other work that needs to be done. When we do that, we tend to fall off course, and wonder where the time went.
Take a little bit of time today to prioritize your life. Take a look at your schedule. Don’t be rigid about it, but be realistic. How much time do you need to get the things done that are on your list? Block out that time and do it. And don’t forget to give yourself some of that down time as well. That’s how you are going to be able to keep going. It’s how we put gas in the tank.
