Yesterday I took a long hard look at my priorities. I’ve become so frustrated, so exhausted with my lousy time-management skills that I’ve decided to get creative with a strategy that I call Finding Fifteen Minutes. Simply put, I have two pretty reasonable goals that I’d like to reach by December and this is how I’m going to do it:
- Finding Fifteen Minutes to Arrive Early: No matter what the appointment or obligation, I am forever arriving five minutes late. It’s embarrassing. (And no, I’m not gonna go there). I’ve tried all sorts of tricks – there’s not a clock in my house that isn’t set a few minutes ahead – and still I’m running out the door breathless and apologizing to receptionists, colleagues, girlfriends, and even my students for keeping them waiting. So now, instead of trying to finish that one last thing, I’m going to stop and remember that if I can just find fifteen minutes to leave a little early, I will cultivate a more peaceful mind and show a greater respect for the schedules of others.
- Finding Fifteen Minutes of Activity: Okay, so we’re almost three months away from January 2010 and despite those resolutions I set earlier this year, my Sisyphean-like struggle with my weight continues. I can’t continue to “blame” the baby for this, now that she’s over three years old! I’m a devoted Weight Watcher and yet my biggest challenge is finding time to exercise. I can always find time to answer another email, so why not this? I have to go back to basics and I’m going to tell myself that if I can just find fifteen minutes to be active everyday, I will feel better physically and mentally – and maybe I’ll drop fifteen pounds yet.
Such commitments, while seemingly small, require sacrifice. Finding fifteen minutes to arrive early or to exercise means fifteen minutes less time spent on Twitter or in front of the TV watching President Obama on David Letterman. It means being attentive to the world around me and not the last, forgotten priority on my list. Let’s hope that posting this will help me to hold myself accountable.
What about you? Struggling with your priorities these days? How are those New Year’s Resolutions coming?
Posted by carleen on September 25, 2009 at 10:28 AM
So on time for me! Thank you for this! If I can’t find 15 minutes to walk (or dance around my living room) every day then my life is seriously messed up. Let the Find 15 revolution begin!
Posted by Evy on September 25, 2009 at 10:32 AM
So timely. I’m in!
Posted by Claudia on September 25, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Thanks Carleen and Evy! It’s definitely a struggle. I’ve been doing a decent job so far, especially with arriving early to appointments. Keep me posted!
Posted by conseula on September 26, 2009 at 10:52 AM
What an excellent idea. I made some similar goals for myself to help maintain the good attitude I’d cultivated while on sabbatical. Now that the semester has started, though, I find myself falling into the same old habits and feeling overworked and exhausted. You give me renewed hope. Finding fifteen minutes of activity–I’m in.
Posted by The “Bayou” of Heaven « The Bottom of Heaven on January 7, 2010 at 10:21 AM
[...] this: Whatever didn’t get right in 2009, try it again in 2010. I’m still motivated to find 15 minutes, still nudging Frieda to join us here in The Bottom more often (wink, wink), still resisting the [...]