An Unhurried sense of time.
Unhurried and time: words that don’t go together smoothly, do they?
Today’s daily inspirational quote from Real Simple was:
“An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth.” ― Bonnie Friedman
I thought I’d share some ideas for creating an unhurried sense of time. Some are from my own experience, struggling to slow down. I’m famous for doing “one last thing.” I’m known for thinking I can squeeze more into my day than you’d think was possible. But over the past two years, I’ve focused on being more realistic with myself and with my time specifically. We’ll put it all under the category of self-care. What is the rush after all? What is the rush? Is there an answer to the question for you?
Suggestions – and I know we’d all welcome your ideas! — Here’s a start. Some will work for you; others may not resonate. But read carefully and see what strikes you, or offer your own suggestions.
Do one LESS thing. This became a new mantra for me. When I heard myself saying “just this one last thing” before I’d leave for a meeting, or “one last thing” before I stop for a meal or a break … I’d change one word. One LESS thing.
Create time anchors in your day so the whole day doesn’t slip by practically unnoticed. Some of us need a way to recognize what time of day it is or how much time has gone by. My time anchors include: take a break every 2 hours (and let out the dogs, too, which gives me perspective); or take a break after each task (of 2 hours or less); meals; knowing what I can get done in a morning or afternoon so by the end of those tasks, I have a sense of what time it is; a ritual of reviewing the next day’s list and wrapping up today at the end of the day.
Answer the question: What IS the rush? And what happens if I don’t get this long list done today? Can I do some of these at another time this week? Most likely, I can, so spread out the work.
Find a method that works for you and assign relative priorities among your items on your to do list. A precursor: having some sort of “everything goes here” list, binder, journal, software — something so you CAN set relative priorities. Not all tasks are created equal and they don’t have to be worked on immediately. But what happens when we see a long, long to do list? Overwhelm hits. Overwhelm is like a fog. It is impossible to sort out what’s important for today versus tomorrow.
My newest method is to have the “Today” list of 3-5 items INCLUDE a list of appointments as part of the to do list (nothing fancy: just “phone calls: 10, 1, 2″). This is one more way to help me realize the amount of time I have for work on my own vs. meetings.
The David Allen weekly review was key for me at the beginning of this unhurried journey in time. Thursday/Friday, I look ahead for the week and check on the week’s flow, number of client meetings and calls, travel time, and commitments I’ve made on marketing and projects.
Also I check how many evenings have work or personal commitments, to make sure I have no more than two of these. Gives me time to rearrange ahead of the possible overwhelm and some balance. I think about what’ s important to me for that week — in my business and in my life. This week/next week’s spiritual holidays are one example for many of us; something has to give to add all of this to our schedules, right ?
On a daily basis, I review what’s to be done for the day and also for the rest of this week. My to do list has a “Today” section, and then I list the next few weeks, and the following month. This allows me to connect a sense of time (days and weeks) with deadlines and to move work around easily.
Learn to let go. Give yourself permission to do fewer things with the quality level you want, or realize if you do more, you may need to settle for less than perfection, but still awfully good, if not great work.
Ideas, comments, suggestions welcomed. An unhurried sense of time… perhaps a new favorite phrase. Or feeling.
