Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The remaining resolutions concern time management.

Keeping my other resolutions—blog more regularly, juicing, daily Bible reading, more frequent exercise—requires better time management.

Lack of time is a fundamental stressor in the life of a caregiver. Finding time for oneself is often impossible. This was true for me even before I became a writer. Three years ago when I first began writing for publication, I pared down my schedule and adjusted my priorities so that I would have time to take care of my husband and fulfill my own desire to write. Giving up tennis gave me ample time to write, publish, and market my first book.

Writers are great procrastinators. As time passed, I’ve found ways to waste the time I gained. If I vow to write for an hour each day, I sit down at the computer and waste 30 or 45 minutes reading emails and checking facebook, my favorite shopping sites, and e-bay. By the time I get around to working on my book, articles, or blog, I am sleepy or hungry. Once I get up from my work station, I am likely not to return.

I’m trying something different this year. Instead of devoting an hour a day to business, I am committing to ½ hour. And most important, I don’t do anything else on the computer until that time is up. No facebook, no Pinterest, no emails until I’ve done something constructive. Surprisingly, getting started is half the battle. When the half hour ends, I often plunge ahead with what I’m working on.

I encourage you to consider how you are spending your time. Can you become a better time manager? Take a look at those activities that suck precious minutes from your day. Would you be better off without them? Such pastimes can masquerade as tension relievers but actually result in creating tension when they keep you from productive activities (exercise, Bible Study, social interaction, reading). Maybe you need to limit your time on Facebook or computer games.

Betty White summed up my feelings about Facebook when she hosted Saturday Night Live:

“I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I would never say the people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite. People say ‘But Betty, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends.’ Well at my age, if I wanna connect with old friends, I need a Ouija Board. Needless to say, we didn’t have Facebook when I was growing up. We had phonebook, but you wouldn’t waste an afternoon with it.”

Right on, Betty!

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