When I was in high school I wrote a poem entitled: “Time” and it went something like this:
If we spend all our time
Learning how to manage time
Aren’t we just waisting time?
I know it wasn’t that good, but for me it was the nut I needed to crack. Years later, I’ve learned the value of time and have therefore become much more mindful of the limits and lack of control I have over time. For example, I can not control how quickly the clock ticks or when the sun rises. What I have control over, is what I agree to do with my time. As a result I now make the determination of what trade offs I need to make when I decide to take something else on.
There are times we all overestimate how much we can squeeze in to our day, but what we’re not being explicit about is what we have given up by agreeing to do that one more thing. If we were more explicit about the 5 minutes of quiet time we were giving up or the extra 30 minutes of sleep, we may be a bit more discerning about what we take on.
I challenge you to be more conscious of what you are giving up when you accept “one more thing” and before you say yes to someone else or even to yourself, be sure you understand that trade off.
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