(Written
by Sheila Gail Landgraf)
GETTING
ORGANIZED BY ELIMINATING TIME-CLUTTER
Time is so important! What we do with our time really matters to
our overall health.
Your life is made up of seconds, minutes, hours,
days, months and years. You can’t just stretch
them out whenever you feel you want or need more. No matter who you are, or how much money you
have in your bank account; there are still only 168 hours a week for you to use
as time
How you spend your time amounts to what your life
turns out to be. One day we all will
have to give an account for all of our time.
Psalm 31:15 says: “My times are in Your hands; Deliver me from
the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.” The wise author of this Psalm was doing the
first thing we all must do in relation to making our times count; he was
consulting God on how to spend his days and asking for God’s help in keeping
himself organized. Good plan!
Psalm 74:16-17 tells us: “Yours is the day. Yours is the night. You have prepared the light and the sun. You have established all the boundaries of
the earth, You have made summer and winter.” When we read
these very profound words we realize that God has given us everything we need
to keep our time in order. But then
another question comes to mind; just how are we doing with that task?
How are you going to measure up when that final day
comes around and you have to give an account for your time spent on this earth?
What will be on your mind during the last few hours of
your life on this earth? Will you be
wondering how you could have spent your time differently?
Will you be wondering why you didn’t have enough
time to do all the things you really wanted and needed to do?
Will you be sorry you wasted so much time on TASKS
and did not spend enough time on relationships?
Time can be your friend or your enemy depending on
the decisions you decide to make about how to use it.
One question will determine how well you are with
managing your time and that question is well worth pondering:
Just
who is in charge of your time? Is it you; or are you letting
time-clutter break down your hours and days?
If so; we need to address that right now. Let’s look at how we can cut down on
time-clutter in order to give ourselves a healthier calendar. Let’s lose all that extra weight we call
time-clutter!
We all should be feeling great right now about
getting our schedules and appointments organized with the new calendars and
personal planners we discussed last week.
Are you enjoying the methods we discussed on the previous blog about
incorporating, planning and organizing your daily time? That project will go a long way in
eliminating some of the time clutter in your life. (If you missed those tips go here: http://dancinginseason.blogspot.com/2017_01_20_archive.html
to catch up with us.)
Even with that part of our time management solidly
in place; there is something else to consider.
The ultimate goal of time management is not about scheduling every
waking moment in your life; it is about making sure that YOU are the one in
control of what goes on in those moments.
If we want to make healthier, better organized choices we still have to
consider eliminating what I call “time-clutter” from our daily schedules.
So what exactly is “time-clutter” anyway?
Time clutter is anything taking up your available time
which is totally unnecessary to bringing you peace-of-mind, order, joy,
happiness and health.
We all have different types of “time-clutter” in our
lives. It varies from season to season
as we live out our lives. Can you think
of are some things that currently cause you to have time-clutter?
Perhaps it might be a good idea to stop right here
and make yourself a list of the things that give you “time-clutter” problems. Identifying a problem is half-way to the
solution. If you find this hard to
recognize just try jotting down how you are spending your time every day. For one day log notes on your activities from
hour to hour. This log can help you to
identify some of the things you might be missing. I’ll also
try to help you identify a few problem areas by discussing the areas of
time-clutter that are common to almost everyone.
UNSOLICITED
PHONE CALLS AND CHATS AND TEXTING:
One of the most common areas of wasted time these
days are phone chats and text messages.
We are 100% available to everyone all the time now with mobile phones
and high-tech. You can waste hours of
time by answering all of your phone calls and text messages every day.
Please don’t misunderstand this; you SHOULD be
available to the members of your immediate family whenever they need you; but do
you really need to answer all of those other calls???? Some of them might still be important too -
but if they are; most likely they will leave a voice mail message where you can
call them back at a time that is more convenient for you.
I suggest you only actually answer calls from
immediate family members when the phone rings.
Let everything else go into your voice mail. Keep your family member calls down to under
ten minutes. Time yourself if you have
to. Save those LONG conversations for those
REAL visits which you are going to have more time for if you follow some of
these simple suggestions.
Check your voice mail once a day at the same time
each day; and set aside 30 minutes each day for returning important, necessary
phone calls. If you run out of time make
a list of numbers to carry over to answer the next day. Answer the most important first. DO NOT SPEND ALL OF YOUR WAKING MOMENTS ON
THE PHONE.
Friends ARE a necessity; so DO return the phone
calls of good friends who are just wanting to chat; but try to fit them into
YOUR schedule; not theirs. A good time
to use to return these phone calls might be on your commute home from the
office at the end of the day. You are in
the car anyway – you may as well make the most of your time while you are
trapped there inside your car. Do this
safely though; invest in hand’s-free phone products and use your speaker while
you are driving instead of your actual phone, keeping both hands on the steering
wheel at all times. This one thing alone
will make a HUGE difference in eliminating the time-clutter in your daily life.
Also – just ignore
and delete all of those marketing calls that slip through your do-not-call-list
monitors. If you have someone constantly
calling you with marketing that you are not interested in and they continue to
call your phone over and over – I suggest blocking their number. Then you won’t have the stress of being
frustrated with them. Your time
belongs to you. Your moments are
precious and valuable. Don’t let
parasites that bring nothing of value into your life or your family eat up your
phone time!
Charities are a very good thing and I whole
heartedly endorse giving to worthy causes; however; these are something that
you should be deciding on with clear thought and good research. You should chose your charities at the time
that is convenient to you. Sit down at
the beginning of each year and decide how much money in your budget can go
toward charities and pick the ones you want to sponsor. Do that, then ignore the rest without guilt. You are not responsible for the well being of
the whole universe. That job belongs to
God. There is a limit to any one’s extra money – so
stick to your decision to spend where you feel your money can do the best. Learn to ignore those charity phone calls.
I would also offer the same advice for those random requests at the
check-out line and whenever you are purchasing something at the store. What gives them the right to decide where you
will be investing in charities? It is a
very rude assumption; and I think stores are wrong for doing this. They are simply playing on people’s
guilt. I consider those things an invasion of my
personal privacy and walk away without one smidge of guilt. You could do the same. Just remember to do your part and make your
contributions to a better society in a more focused, thoughtful, correct and
considerate way as mentioned above. Delete those messages and/or block them out
and give your money responsibly instead of on a whim to whatever charity
screams the loudest. Support those that
you really decided to sponsor on your own.
Make
sure your home phone system has a screen that shows you who is calling and if
there isn’t a name attached to it that you recognize; let that call go to the
answering service, especially at the time they love to
get you the most – your dinner time.
Trust me – you will be much happier when you are able to free up your
more valuable time to spend with those who truly love you for who you are and
want to be with you for free. Don’t
let other people’s bad and inconsiderate phone habits clutter up your life.
OBSESSIVE
WORRY:
How much of your precious time have you been giving
away to worry each day?
Worry can really clutter up your time. It can paralyze you if you let it. Throw worry out with the trash every
day. Don’t let it hang around your house
and drain you of all your positive energy.
Matthew 6:25-34 offers
some excellent advice in this area: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food; and the body more
than clothes? Look at the birds of the
air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Can any one of you
by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the flowers of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin. Yet I
tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of
these. If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith. So do not worry, saying; ‘What shall we eat?’
or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things,
and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each
day has enough trouble of its own.
Worry can tire you out and keep you from those
things that you enjoy the most in life.
Just don’t’ do it! Let it
go! Be responsible in every way that you
can – then quit worrying without guilt or shame.
If you have something that you can’t get out of your
mind and that worry is keeping you from having a more productive life; call a
trusted friend and talk it out. Hire a
counselor if you must. There are many
good ones out there. Share the load instead
of carrying it around with you everywhere you go. Two heads are always better than one. Your friend or counselor may offer a solution
that you haven’t thought about. Talking
it out with a reliable person will help you to cross that needless worry off
your list so that you will be able to move on.
Don’t wait too long to do this. Whenever you are feeling bogged down in
worry; seek help immediately and then move on with the solution to the
problem. Get rid of the stress before it
gets rid of you.
NOT
DELEGATING THE THINGS THAT YOU REALLY DON’T HAVE TIME TO HANDLE:
Sometimes when we are feeling overwhelmed with
time-clutter it is our own fault for not delegating those tasks that we don’t
necessarily have to handle ourselves.
Are you cooking ALL the time without ever treating
yourself to a night out?
Do you HAVE to wash those dishes EVERY night? Why not use paper plates and plastic cups on some
less formal nights?
Do you not have time to clean like you want? Have you considered having a maid come in
twice a month? It might be more affordable
than you think. Are you considering not spending so much time with your grandchildren because you don't have enough time to clean, but it breaks your heart? NO! Let them come on over and make as much of a mess in your house as they want and THEN hire a maid. LOL. We all have our priorities; this is one I'm having to learn.
Do you struggle with having enough time to do your yard work? Lots of people are looking for that type of employment these days. If you search around and inquire with your neighbors you can find someone who is reasonable that does good work.
Do you need a break from constant child care? Have you lined up some good, dependable
people who love being with your child who would gladly help out for a few hours
if you only gave them a call?
Do you need to spend some more hours each week with an ageing parent but have trouble carving out the time? Do you typically attend church every week? Why not just go with your parent to their church a few weeks out of the month? It would make their day and yours too. You would gain a lot of common ground for conversations later; and you are already spending that time going to church anyway. Your congregation can make it without you now and then and God can be in both places at the same time! The more creative you get with some of these time-clutter issues, the more interesting life turns out in the end. I DO encourage you to think outside the box.
Are you overwhelmed from church activities? Don’t you think there are other people out
there that might want to help out with your food pantry chores on Thursday
nights? Volunteering your time is a
wonderful thing to do. I highly
recommend it; but once you get started and others see your willing spirit, sometimes
you become the “go-to” person for the whole world. There has to be a limit even to such worthy
causes. If you are volunteering after
work more than one night a week; you might want to reconsider how you are
spending your time in that area.
Do you hate grocery shopping? Do you know there are services out there that
will do it all for you and all you have to do is pick it up? Some of these services even deliver right to
your doorstep. They are becoming more
and more affordable and easier and easier to use.
Do you ever just order a pizza and have it
delivered? It isn’t a healthy choice for
every day but it sure is a lifesaver if you are too tired or too scheduled to
do anything else.
Almost every chore that causes our time-clutter
problems has an answer that can be delegated to others. I'm not saying that you should blow your hard earned money by hiring EVERYTHING out; but sometimes you DO need a break and those are the times to look at the possibilities. If you can aford it; do it. I have friends who barter and exchange certain services for other certain services. One lady cooks extra meals ahead twice a week for her friend in exchange for her friend watching her children after school for a few hours a week. I thought that worked out nicely for both of them! Be creative if you don't want to spend the cash; but DO give yourself some freedom from time-clutter whenever you can. Just one thing in one area only once a month can be a real treat for most of us. Study how you are spending your time and make
a list of how you can delegate and put a new plan into action. See if this one little thing doesn’t give you
more Sunday afternoon walks and family time.
HIGH-TECH
CLUTTER:
These days we all have to deal with a lot of what I
call high-tech clutter. These things
will totally consume you if you let it happen.
We have already covered the telephone; but there are many other such
things to deal with today. Ask yourself
these questions:
How much time am I spending answering text messages?
How much time am I spending on Facebook, Pinterest,
Instagram and Twitter?
How many e-mails do I receive simply because I ordered
a product or did business with someone in a one-time transaction?
How much television am I watching every day?
If you have watched television over one hour a
night; you are probably watching too much.
Get up and get moving and save that little hour for your unwind
time. Consider renting a movie or
scheduling a show you really do want to watch instead of the constant noise of
that television. You should turn it off
completely two or three nights a week and let yourself curl up with a good book
instead.
Of course, if you are like me you will not limit
your reading to one hour either. I’ve
learned to set a timer and keep a bookmarker handy.
For those pesky e-mails, just click onto “unsubscribe”
and you can quit wasting your time cleaning them out of your-in box every day. Such
an easy solution!
When it comes to using social media, there are many
plusses and minuses. Being a writer, a
certain amount of it is totally necessary in my day, but even people who use it
for a living need to set limits. Allow
yourself 10 minutes a day for each of your favorites and let that be all the
time you spend. Don’t become so addicted
to keeping up with other people’s lives that you forget to live your own. That would be so sad.
I have a simple statement to my friends who expect
me to always answer all of their text messages; “I don’t text! Either send me a real e-mail message and I’ll
get to it when I can or give me a call and I’ll answer when I can. I will not be a slave to a cell phone. Sorry.”
Well I think you can take over from here. Look at all of these areas, analyze your time
and think of some real solutions for your “time-clutter.”
Good luck! I’m
off to do something else; spending too much time on my laptop……
