Time Value:I'm kind of sitting back and watching all of the shopping activity this year, wondering why, exactly, it is all as necessary as people make it to be. Habit? Guilt? Do material goods really translate into expressions of love for some? All of the above?I don't want to sound pious - everyone has their good reasons for what they do. Its just that some of my observations don't sit right with me. But that's me. I think the best gift I can give is my time.
ARTICAL:
This article points out that the word “time” was the most-often used word in the english language during 2006. And goes on to point out our obsession with time, how to save minutes, how to be more productive and finding more hours in a day. This is something I’m very guilty of – “How can I invest the next x minutes to maximize the value of the time, and return on the investment?” is a question I often ask myself.
However, the point of the article is that time itself is a creation of God, and that our attempt to control it and manipulate it is futile. When we feel pressure from the clock (which I feel all the time) we are free to let go of that pressure and frustration, and realize that time itself is out of our control. “As we humbly bow before Him, we see time from a new perspective. รข€” David C. McCasland”
The second: an article on zenhabits.net about using twitter for improved productivity and personal development.
“Personal development has become a highly popular blog topic for bloggers and destination for readers.”
Although this is a great article, and a great blog by Leo Babauta over at zenhabits.net, I found it very interesting that in one morning I could read an article about our obsession with productivity and time management, and another on how to maximize the use of twitter to be..well…more productive.
We all need to walk a fine line between time management, and letting go. Too much letting-go, and we become lazy – bad investors of the time we’ve been given. Too much time scrutinization and we become robots, focused on the maximum value of each second, without stopping long enough to smell the roses. I think the key is to constantly remind ourselves that time itself is a gift, something to use but not abuse.
Take Action:
Use a small portion of each day (15 minutes to an hour), and purposefully don’t watch the clock. Try not to think about what time it is, or what you should be doing at that time. Use a timer, or alarm to get you back into action, and use the time in between to let go of it all.
Plan out each day. Be productive, and use time as a gift. Each second you have is a gift, use it wisely – once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Use your planned time to let go. Feel free to manipulate your schedule easily. When something interesting comes up, go for it. Something that sparks your delight? take it. Use the plan you made for each day to your advantage by easily swapping things around, exchanging interesting things, for even more interesting things.
However, the point of the article is that time itself is a creation of God, and that our attempt to control it and manipulate it is futile. When we feel pressure from the clock (which I feel all the time) we are free to let go of that pressure and frustration, and realize that time itself is out of our control. “As we humbly bow before Him, we see time from a new perspective. รข€” David C. McCasland”
The second: an article on zenhabits.net about using twitter for improved productivity and personal development.
“Personal development has become a highly popular blog topic for bloggers and destination for readers.”
Although this is a great article, and a great blog by Leo Babauta over at zenhabits.net, I found it very interesting that in one morning I could read an article about our obsession with productivity and time management, and another on how to maximize the use of twitter to be..well…more productive.
We all need to walk a fine line between time management, and letting go. Too much letting-go, and we become lazy – bad investors of the time we’ve been given. Too much time scrutinization and we become robots, focused on the maximum value of each second, without stopping long enough to smell the roses. I think the key is to constantly remind ourselves that time itself is a gift, something to use but not abuse.
Take Action:
Use a small portion of each day (15 minutes to an hour), and purposefully don’t watch the clock. Try not to think about what time it is, or what you should be doing at that time. Use a timer, or alarm to get you back into action, and use the time in between to let go of it all.
Plan out each day. Be productive, and use time as a gift. Each second you have is a gift, use it wisely – once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Use your planned time to let go. Feel free to manipulate your schedule easily. When something interesting comes up, go for it. Something that sparks your delight? take it. Use the plan you made for each day to your advantage by easily swapping things around, exchanging interesting things, for even more interesting things.
A Sister's Story on The Time:My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. "This," he said, "is not a slip. This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite: silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached.
"Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician.
His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me. "Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special.
I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life. I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in the office. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them. I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it.
My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party going friends.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.
I'm not sure what my sister would've done had she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I'm guessing. I'll never know. It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends someday. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. Every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that every day, every minute, every breath truly is... a gift from God.
If you've received this it is because someone cares for you. If you're too busy to take the few minutes that it would take right now to forward this to ten people, would it be the first time you didn't do that little thing that would make a difference in your relationship.
Take a few minutes to send this to a few people you care about, just to let them know that you're thinking of them. May love litter your life with blessings.
The Value of Time:
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the plane home.
To realize the value of ONE-SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who lost out on the gold medal in the Olympics by this amount.
Time:This is a remarkable fact, and surprising; these are the same parents whose value of time (their wage rate) has increased relative to that of all parents, as, unsurprisingly, have their hours working for pay (since we know that labor supply responds to wage rates). They thus have less non-work time available and are spending even more of it with their kids. Why the surprising result?
The authors go through and demolish a large number of explanations and offer their own: that the demand for places at top-notch colleges has increased (as the number of high-school grads has grown), while the supply of places at the Harvards, Amhersts, and yes, even the UT-Austins has changed little. This increased relative demand has provided growing incentives for kids to distinguish themselves — and for their parents to spend time helping them do so. One nice test of the theory makes the same comparison — highly educated versus less-educated over time — for Canada, where there appears to be less gradation in perceived quality across universities than here. In the North, unlike here, there has been no divergence in time spent with kids by parents with differing educational attainment.
