Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Chapter 39: On Time Management

It seems I tend to make this life into a dance in which I continually push the beat of the drum faster and faster until I am struggling to keep up with the movements.

I am not as overwhelmed as I have been in the past, but I just keep adding things to my schedule. Good things, too. Really good some of them. But when you don't really have time to add even the really good things, it causes a stressed out me who only wants to sleep, watch movies, or read a book.


(I promise that my purpose is not to whine or to complain about my stress level right now. Rather, it's about how I have been learning how to prioritize.)

Before moving to China, I had never really thought enough about how I spend my time. Since coming here, I have had to pay much closer attention to the clock or else it surreptitiously turns its hands to a point some hours in the future without me even noticing. And then I am left wondering how on earth is it that time already!?

One of the things that has been helpful for me has been a paradigm shift in my attitude about time. I have gone from paying virtually no attention to my time management, to the point where I now am creating a time budget - allowing some minutes for this and several hours for that. It seems a very Western thing to do, but it's helping.

Another thing that has helped was something a friend shared with me last week. She was talking about how she has a list of goals for life in China, and if an event or project doesn't fit within those goals, she won't usually get involved. Obviously, this is not a rigid system with no freedom of choice, but it does help her to feel better about saying no.

So, I hope for you the same as for myself - that you are able to manage your time well so that you are the most effective tool for Him that you can be. It's all for Him anyways.

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