Time is on your side
“You’re obese.”
Not quite how you would expect a girl who talks about organization to start out a post. However, that’s how life can be sometimes, completely unexpected. Organization extends far beyond junk drawers and closets. Being more organized is a means to save yourself, and your loved ones, time. Less time wasted searching for things and more time spent doing the things that we love. We all say, “we just don’t have enough time”. When I’m looking at my doctor square in the face and she tells me “you’re obese”, immediately I thought, “there is no way that I have time to focus on that”, or did I?
Time management fits right in the wheel house of organization. If you’re not intentional with your time, the tendency is to waste it without even realizing it’s being wasted. Amy Howard in her book “A Maker’s Guide” said “I believe the answer to your lack of results this far, is found in the choices you make, every minute.” I couldn’t agree more, time management is crucial. For the fun things, it comes quite easy, but for the harder things, there is a tendency to make excuses.
After that appointment I was for the first time determined to make my health a priority. Thankfully a friend of mine had just opened an Orangetheory in Charleston, SC, and after I signed up, my husband and I sat down and looked at our schedules. I was working full time and with having two little girls, the only time that worked for us, meant I had to workout at 5:15… in the morning. Which also meant, I would have to leave the house no later than 4:30AM! Oh. My. Goodness. Immediately I felt like I was setting myself up for failure. I mean getting up at 4:30am was pretty much like getting up in the middle of the night.
But I did it.
For over a year two to three times a week I got up at 4:30am and went to the 5:15am class. Orangetheory proved to be the best use of the one hour I was able to devote and I highly recommend checking them out. I lost weight, inches, sizes, and gained something back that couldn’t be measured, a confident/healthy me.
I know that working out that early in the morning isn’t for everyone. What I did find by working out that early, I didn’t give myself the opportunity to let life get in the way, or talk myself out of it throughout the day.
Regardless if your goal is to start working out or you’ve been wanting to go to school or you want to start your own business, don’t fool yourself that you don’t have enough time.
Take an honest look at your day to day schedule. For a couple of days track your entire day hour by hour, but be honest with yourself and leave nothing out.
Look for “time wasters”. Amy Howard also says, “Watching two hours of television every day won’t make you happier, smarter, wealthier, or even more relational. You will have simply checked out, shut down and made no difference in your life or the lives around you.” Between TV, the internet and social media, think of the time that could have been used on another activity.
Incorporate your loved ones. Asking for help is hard, but often is very necessary. Coordinating schedules, making use of times when kids are in activities… you may have to get creative to get things done. There were times when I needed to go for a run, and my kids were able to ride their bikes. Or when working on the blog, I would do it while the kids were doing their homework. It became a team effort because a better me, meant a better me for them.
Use a planner. There are endless paper planners and planning aps out there that you can customize to meet your and your family’s needs.
Keep yourself accountable. When your boss schedules a meeting, you can’t just flake out. Same thing held true for my workout schedule. When you set that time specifically for that activity, everything else has to fall around it.
The amazing part is, when you are intentional with your time, you will find that you have more of it to devote to other things you never dreamed were possible. For me it was starting this blog and a major bucket list item: training, running and completing my first marathon.
The time we have is precious. Decide what your goals are and figure out a way to make them happen. It may take a little creativity and you may have to do something a little out of the box. Until you have that honest conversation concerning how you spend your time, don’t dismiss a goal or an opportunity.
