I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine. She was lamenting about having too much to do and of course I was commiserating with her because my own schedule reflected a subtle shade of chaos myself. "If we only had 48 hours instead of 24, maybe we could get it all done", my friend muttered. I told her it would be like getting a million bucks, we'd still find ways to waste it and be poor- it is not a matter of more, it is a matter of efficiency. WOW, that went over like a lead balloon.... Her look said it all. I backtracked and explained. If we were given more time, there would still not be enough because we do not know how to use the time we have now properly. We are given our portion in life and we need to use it wisely- our portion of time, of money, of resources, of talents, of whatever..... you fill in the blank. I told her I would hazard a guess that if we used everything we are given- time included more wisely, we would accomplish more and still have time to do nothing- the key was to identify the time sucks in our world.... I thought about my own reality there for a bit- yeah I am super busy but, I could be a whole lot less frazzled if I were not a slave to procrastination. Procrastination is like a credit card balance that you just pay the interest on- you will always be wallowing in debt until you get it taken care of.
So, in the interest of science, I spent the day actually mentally documenting my minutes from the day prior....and discovering the alarming trend of unintended consequences....
My day started when I decided to hit the alarm "one more time" (I had chosen to watch this show on the mystery behind the quartz skulls of the Mayan...way past my bedtime the night before and well, I was hurting- the bed was too warm and my eyelids had this weird "keeping closed disease").....sleeping in set things in motion for a rather ugly day.
Running late (from sleeping in) I forgot my son's lunch and backpack hanging on the doorknob- driving back home to get it (thankful I did because the front door was WIDE open) put the gas tank on vapors....I decided to do the Seinfeld thing and "push the envelope" so the kids would not be late. After dropping them off, I coasted into the gas station (the closest one of course was the most expensive...by 20 cents a gallon YIKES) and filled up. Realizing I was a bit on edge and in need of COFFEE I went to the local bookstore to get me a cup and curl up with a book...so, okay, yes, I have deadlines BUT, I was in no way in the right frame of mind to actually get to work...wink.... Man, where did the time go, I have to get groceries before getting the kids (I barely make it there in time...I am such a slacker) I look at my iPhone calendar (that lovely bit that keeps me on track....I notice that my hourly goals have been totally ignored and not one thing on my "to-do" has been done...irritating) Now, I have 2 out of the three kiddos to cart around on the rest of my errands - so far nothing "business" has been gotten to. So, for those without children, let me clue you in on a secret, everything you set out to do with kids in tow WILL take double the amount of time......not cool. I started wondering exactly how my life started imitating the whole "when you give a mouse a cookie" or "the butterfly that stamped" books....consequences are not always good things but, you own them, You own them.
So, here I sat at my desk, the clock now after 9 PM and me still not where I am supposed to be in terms of the proverbial checklist.....and my husband turns on Dirty Jobs on the television. I swear that show is like a train wreck- you just **HAVE** to see what is going on. Irritating. And here I am 11PM, just like the night before- tired from chasing everything today instead of being ahead of the game and on top of them.
My point is, and was to my friend, if I can't be trusted to use my 24 hours responsibly now, how in the heck could I be a good steward of 48 hours given this track record? Thank goodness for second chances. I believe whole heartedly that we need "mental health" days and that there is such a thing as a "too pretty to be inside day" however, those should be rewards for doing the right thing and being diligent on the days when, let's face it, you just have NO motivation to "git 'er done". We will never be able to manufacture more hours in the day but, we do have control over how to extend our minutes and be more productive with the time we do have.
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