4 Ways to Rethink Time Management for Better Living
On Tuesday, I wrote about the BS that is modern time management.
I have absolutely been guilty most of my life of Parkinson’s Law: filling my time with more doing, because I could. More than that, it was because I thought I should. I wanted to prove to everyone, and to myself, that I was capable.
What I learned through the toll that that took on my mental and physical health is:
1. Schedule for bandwidth, not time.
Just because the block is there in your calendar, doesn’t mean you have to fill it. Especially if you will not be bringing your whole-self to the table. If you will be stressed out, potentially late, or thinking of the next thing on your list…then don’t do the thing.
If it is a task that truly, urgently, needs to be in that block, rearrange the rest of your day as needed to carve out space for your bandwidth.
2. Not everything needs a purpose.
Leisure can be “done” for the sake of having leisure. Not as a means to productive end.
Critic Walter Kerr noted in his 1962 book The Decline of Pleasure, that:
“We are all of us compelled to read for profit, party for contacts, lunch for contracts, bowl for unity drive for mileage, gamble for charity, go out for the evening from the greater glory of the municipality, and stay home for the weekend to rebuild the house. In a contrary and perhaps rather cruel way the twentieth century has relieved us of labor without at the same time reliving us of the conviction that only labor is meaningful.
Find something leisurely to do for the sake of pleasure.
3. Get comfortable saying no.
Among the hardest is to tell someone no. To let them down. Personally, I would rather be told the truth up front–– that someone doesn’t have the time to execute the task–– than have it be executed late or poorly. This may sound like I’m only talking about work. But it’s true for lunch or coffee with a friend too. I’d rather reschedule for when we can both be present, than to check the box that we met up, but really only looked at our phones or rushed the meet to get to the next calendar item.
If you explain why you’re saying no, the person will likely respect that. If they don’t respect quality over quantity, then should you really care about letting them down in the first place?
4. Know your values.
“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy,” Seneca said.
Time is not money. It’s more valuable than that. You can always make more money, you cannot make more time. The next time you catch yourself saying, “I don’t have time…” to:
- See a friend
- Play with your kid
- Chew your food
- Go to sleep
- Prepare a healthy meal
- Play a game
- Move your body
- Etc etc etc
Ask yourself, is that really true?
Leisure, exercise, sleep, stress relief, nutritious eating, community…all of these things are valuable. They are valuable even though they may not make you money or prove your productivity.
(Although, if it’s helpful, all of them will improve your productivity because of their mental and physical benefits…but that is for another day).