Value Light’s Time

Value Light’s Time

Is a light doing valued more than a light being?
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An occasional idle mind is a great benefit. May you find that place where idle moments coexist with productivity, success, and personal fulfillment —where you have times without imperative to be present in each moment—nothing to fix, rush to, or accomplish - Bryan Robinson

We wake up as captains of our ship. We are responsible for navigating our day by getting ready for the day ahead processing tasks, sending emails, completing tasks, and solving unexpected challenges. We circle around determining where to start first, meeting with colleagues, attending unexpected meetings, calling (texting) family and friends, and all of this before 5pm and the list continues.

Our mindset around time needs to be set by being not always doing. Our goal is to find strategies to help us do just that.

The question to ask ourselves is this, “Am I feeling fulfilled or depleted? What is it about how I use my time that makes me feel this way?”

So many of us probably would say, “Uh, I feel depleted!”

How can we change how we view our time?

​How we are able to process the information gathered in our daily life is critical?

First, we have to learn more about the idea of “time famine.”

Dr. Bryan Robinson writer for Psychology Today defines time famine as “starving for more time to do everything we need to do” (2017, para. 4). In his blog titled, Time Famine: How to Satisfy Your Hunger for More, Robinson reminds us:

As long as we define success by those who time-starve themselves, we lead time-malnourished lives and feel the hunger pangs of sleeplessness, exhaustion, and worry—not to mention self-defeat. Time famine can lead to mental health issues such as burnout, anxiety and depression and physical health problems (2017, para. 4)

How can we use our time more wisely?

Here are a few strategies I use (and if you have any please share in the comments):

• Acknowledge anxiousness and place myself in the mindset to be where I am and that the doing will happen (taking focus off of the to do list to be present)
• Designate time throughout the day to check email (I turn off my email notifications and close out email so I do not get interrupted by dings, buzzes, or bells)

• Limit the number of other notifications received on my iPhone (only notifications I have are for missed calls, text messages, and calendar reminders)

• Track time on social media (hmmmm I still need some work on this one – some of the time is dedicated due to sharing information in the social media world – but needs to not be a large percentage of my day)
• Block time for prioritized tasks for the day.
• Celebrate being (early morning with a cup of coffee or walking the dog with family or sitting and doing nothing - this truly has lead me to be more productive when I have to get to the doing)

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I try my best to adhere to the above strategies. I have to be honest though; there are days when I slip into the abyss of time famine.

Even though there are days that the above are more aspirational than lived, going back to this list helps me to focus my energy from doing to being. The strategies I created for myself are for personal accountability (it’s on me).

I’ll bookend with this, is a light doing valued more than a light being?