Right now I’m 90 pages into a book by Laura Vanderkam called 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. This book has profoundly challenged me to use my time more wisely and efficiently – among other things, to focus my time more squarely on passions and core competencies instead of drudgeries and activities that don’t advance my core values and objectives.
So far in 168 Hours, one of Vanderkam’s best observations is the idea that “Oh, I don’t have time for that” is almost never true. Laura points out that if your basement suddenly flooded, you would instantly find the 5-10 hours necessary to do what it took to restore order to your home and repair the damage. You’d just have to. Other things in your schedule would simply have to shove over and make room.
On the flip side, if someone asked you if you had 5-10 hours this week to start training for a 10K run or begin learning a new language, you might drop the “I don’t have time” line. But that wouldn’t be exactly true. What would be true is that these proposed activities wouldn’t figure high enough on your priority list – your actual priority list – to make the cut for your week.
At a later date, I look forward to posting a full report of gems and highlights from the book. I think she’s fantastic. But for today, I’m going to apply what I’ve read so far by setting some personal short-term goals. Because this is the first post in what I hope will become a helpful online journal of sorts, I have no following and therefore no audience. So the accountability (and potential embarrassment) factors will be quite low.
Today is my first official day of a two-week spring break. I have ten weekdays at my disposal: five spent at home with family, and five with my wife and boys at work and school. I will consider these ten days a success if all or most of the following objectives are met within each day:
- Familial: Spend at least one hour of quality family time (ie. one common activity, no screens involved, not including meals).
- Financial: List 1+ item on eBay.
- Marital: Connect meaningfully with my wife in some way (conversation, gift, note, activity, etc.).
- Professional: Evaluate and record marks for two class assignments.
- Professional: Take one step (however small) towards furthering my education.
- Organizational: File 1+ item in my office. Leave the office generally more ordered than it was the day before.
- Physical: Complete a full exercise routine (despite recently dislocating my shoulder).
- Personal: Read 10+ pages of nonfiction.
- Spiritual: Complete an assigned portion of Bible reading, write a short journal entry in response, and spend some time in prayer.
- Spiritual: Write one blog post.
I may come back to this post and record my results. But in any case, completion of these ten goals will represent hours very well spent, produce a high amount of satisfaction, and advance my life values and objectives. Here’s to some good intentions.
Tim Cavey 