A DEAR friend once told me, “If there’s anything I wish I had more of, it’s time. Always rushing to get through my mornings.” The hustle and bustle of each day causes her undue stress. The instinctive response would be to tell her to take a break. However, nowadays I am slowly learning that “break time” may have a different meaning—not of escaping one’s routine, but getting control of it. As in any ownership, we must get rid of unnecessary thoughts and undesirable activities for a more organized world. We can be the master of our time whenever we have clear, simple and specific goals and values in life. As author Sarah Young said, “Learn to master your time or it will be your master.”
In his book Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald says a person is disorganized if he misses deadlines, fails to respond to messages, or feels poorly about his work. In the same vein, he says a person is organized once he begins to seal “time leaks and allocate his productive hours in light of his capabilities, his limits and his priorities.” Unlike any other resource, time, once spent, cannot be taken back. MacDonald suggests three ways to successfully recapture lost time: (1) find out your rhythm for maximum effectiveness, (2) set a criteria for choosing how to use time and (3) plan in advance.
I remember a former law student who studied during the wee hours of the morning. She admits that she can absorb more information and learn faster that way. Thus, her rhythm dictates that she spends her productive hours during midnight to dawn. In terms of allocating time, she said she always spends more time studying the core subjects in law school and subjects whose professors are notoriously “terror professors”. When she prepared for the Bar exam, she planned all her activities during the five-month review period, allotting specific hours for each subject, social activities and recreation. As she discovered her rhythm (night studying) and complemented it with advanced planning (five-month review calendar) and optimal time allocation (core subjects), she easily passed the Bar exam.
Every moment, we can do a hundred of good things—hit the gym, cook, read, have coffee with a friend, watch a movie, or enjoy the sunset. But every moment also allows us to do better things depending on our rhythm. Since every moment can present itself differently, context determines what is good, better, or even best. Author Robert Hales said, “When you cannot do what you have always done, then you only do what matters most.” We must budget our time like any other resource. However, unlike money, time should be weighed in terms of quality. Quality time is a term usually used in leadership and management courses to equip people with the necessary skills to be more productive in the workplace. But quality time is also the time and attention we invest in a person or activity. A few minutes of dedicated time spent with a loved one clearly outweighs the long hours we spend in business meetings. The heartfelt satisfaction people derive from thanking others can sometimes be captured in a brief hug instead of a long-winded beer session.
How we manage our time determines who we will become. How we spend our time demonstrates the extent of our relationships with others. How we prioritize our time reflects the values we cherish in life. Whenever we make use of our time to perform our “best” activity, we must be fully present in mind and body, psychologist Benjamin Hardy says.
In his devotional article, “Relationship Resonance”, Doug Hacking said, “It may only take a few seconds of giving someone your full attention to make a positive impact. But what is important is that you don’t create interruptions with things like a smart phone, a television show, or anything else that will tempt you to temporarily check out.” There will always be time for the other things you set out to do.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, the Bible tells us, “There is a season for everything, and a time for every event under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted.” In her book, Jesus is Calling, Sarah Young, speaking as Jesus, wonderfully said that “as you focus on my Presence, the demands of time and tasks will diminish.” Time is a gift from God. Since we are all time-bound beings here on Earth, we need to seek Him in His timelessness.
So, to my dear friend who wished for more time, I say that we will never lack time if we focus on whatever we have and the things that truly matter. No one can know our rhythm, set our criteria and plan in activities in advance except ourselves. However, make sure that whenever you want to “break” time, as our favorite yoga teacher Maidee would say, “you must surrender to the moment”.
For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.