As of late, I’ve been monitoring what I do with my time. There have been days when it was a blur, and I had all these things to do but found myself doing other things that, while they were necessary (like household stuff), weren’t urgent at the time. Years ago, I learned about the Eisenhower Matrix (“a task management tool that helps you organize and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance.”) You place your to-do list items in four quadrants. It’s a straightforward and logical productivity tool, but I just never did it.

I have a few books on time management, but I’ll be honest: I never got the whole system right.

 

While looking for a timer, I came across a turn-dial kind on eBay. When I read the description, something popped out at me, which I highlighted in the photo below: “Arrange your time reasonably and refuse procrastination.” It’s not proper English, but after reading it a couple of times, I thought it made sense in a way, and I got inspired to write this.

So, what do you do with your time? 

• Are you using your time for productive things that make you happy?
• Are you using your time to be with your favorite people you feel good around?
• Are you using your time to connect with something bigger than you, like the nighttime sky or a higher power?

Ask yourself these questions and see what you come up with.

Arrange your time reasonably and refuse procrastination.

For me, this means I need to focus more on what’s important, on what will improve my life. I tend to get off track and burn away time doing things that may seem important at the time, even though I know I could spend that time doing something much more proactive toward my goals. What I mean is that I would choose to organize a space in our home instead of writing a query letter to an agent for my novel At What Price or my young adult novel, Magic In the Snow.  Those books (among other things I’ve written) were time-consuming projects I completed, and yet instead of sending them out to agents and/or publishers, I wasted time doing other things.

Well, the eBay ad said it all: arrange your time reasonably and refuse procrastination. 

I have been procrastinating! I think we all do it to some degree. Procrastination usually goes hand in hand with doing things we don’t want to do. I was a late paper writer in college, where I’d get the paper done the night before when I had a month to prepare it. Did I not want to do it? No. I loved writing, so you’d think it would be fun for me, yet I procrastinated.

I just realized, writing about it, that (in college) I was scared my work wasn’t good enough, and I wanted good grades. I’m having an ah-ha moment writing this! I’m not sending out my writing because I think it won’t be good enough. I’m afraid of rejection. I want a surefire thing and to know I won’t be rejected. Wow! I’m not living in reality. I have been working on an old program I learned as a child.

Most of us are doing the same.

Here’s the thing: When we arrange our time reasonably and refuse procrastination, we are in the present moment. That’s where we can control what we do, say, think, and believe.

It seems pretty easy, right? It takes practice. I’m still working on it, and I’ve been working on living in the present moment for a long time. I think monks live there because they are immersed in their calling, which demands focus and discipline. Most of us live busy lives, and we have to be aware of our conscious brains to focus on the present moment. That means we have to actually think about living in the present moment. As I wrote, it takes practice.

We have one life to live (that we are aware of), so we might as well make the most of it. What we do with our time creates a life. Let’s make it into something worth singing out.

Thank you for spending a little bit of your time reading these words. I created them to share what I believe will help us all have a pretty good life. I’d love to hear what makes you sing, so please comment below.

To our time,

Francesca