For the past two months, I’ve been tracking my time. As in, all my time.
I start out my day by projecting out how I will intentionally spend each hour and then I record what I actually did in that hour as the day passes.
I’ve made a lot of personal discoveries by doing this. But the biggest takeaway is that my (and, I suspect, most people’s) fundamental understanding of time is wrong.
We tend to focus on to-dos, rather than on time itself. We tend to think about time like accountants, when we should be thinking like investors. _______________________ Time is a strange thing. Some would argue — and I agree — that it’s the most valuable resource we have in our lives; yet, it’s unlike anything else that’s valuable. Time is elusive to us because it’s not concrete.
Compare it to something concrete, like money. At any given moment, we each have a certain amount of money in our wallets or purses. We may also have money in a bank account or retirement fund somewhere. We might even carry debt on our money, whether it be for school, a house, or just day-to-day living expenses.
While our financial pictures may all look different, our relationship to money is generally always concrete. If you have $100, you can spend that hundred dollars, save that hundred dollars, or invest that hundred dollars. If you want to know how much money you have, you can look at your bank account. It’s reliable and manageable.
But time operates in a different way.
You can’t save time, really. Time marches on at a steady drip regardless of what we do or don’t do. We can’t control it; we can’t increase or decrease it-- we just sit in what feels in the moment to be a perpetual flow.
As a result, time is elusive to us. We experience it as infinite, when we rationally know it is not. We can’t set aside extra for a rainy day and we can’t go into debt on time. We always have only what we have at each moment. And then, one day, it’s gone.
_______________________
Here is an example to illustrate just how hard it is to grasp time. If you were to make a change in your life right now that would save you from wasting 30 hours over the next year on something that wasn't important to you, it would be very difficult for you to feel the positive feedback on this gain. The reason it would be so difficult to realize this reward is because those 30 hours would simply be spent on something else (that is hopefully more important). But if you saved $300 on a flight, you’d get an immediate hit of positive feedback — and you’d be able to tangibly put that money into something else you care about.
We don’t feel a concrete loss on our big time savings, nor do we feel a concrete gain.
As a result, we tend to approach time like an accountant. As “time accountants,” we simply try to make sure everything fits. We rearrange, increase efficiency, find ways to save time. We feel a sort of indebtedness when we don’t use our time well, regretting what we did and didn’t do.
Treating time like an accountant is a rational response. It makes sense given our experience of time to think that the solution is simply to optimize our to-dos, better organize our schedules, and find hacks to shave 20 seconds off our commute times. It seems like that’s all we actually can do.
But it doesn’t work — at least not from the perspective of meaning and impact. By focusing our energy on the optimization and execution of tasks, we position ourselves as the accountant of a business that, day after day, year after year, is trying to figure out a way to balance a budget that can’t be balanced. We become gravitationally drawn to focus on the many competing priorities of life and no matter how hard we try, we end up looking at our balance sheet and realizing we are still coming up short. As a wise elder once told me, “Everyone dies with a to-do list.”
The result of treating one’s time as an accountant is stress, anxiety, and shame. The well-known feeling of “time indebtedness” is a sure sign that we are thinking like a time accountant. _______________________
Our other option is to approach time like an investor.
An investor begins with the asset they have and asks, what can I invest in that will give me the greatest return on my investment?
The asset each of us has is our time. We are each gifted a certain amount of time here on earth to invest, to do something meaningful and lifegiving with. When we start with our time, rather than our to-dos, we approach our day and ask the question, “What is the best use of this time that has been gifted to me?” rather than, “How can I figure out how to get all this stuff done?”
It’s a subtle shift but an important one. Thinking like a time investor offers us a liberating sense of personal responsibility and agency by moving away from the task-driven scarcity mindset that dominates most productivity circles. While thinking like an accountant can offer the illusion of productivity, it’s actually more akin to the rush of completing mounds of busywork. Investor thinking on the other hand opens us up to see the big picture and focus on the important, rather than crisis managing the urgent.
Our experience fundamentally shifts because we move from “have-tos” to “get-tos.” Rather than finding ourselves under the cruel thumb of a tyrant task manager, we become meaning makers searching for that which will bring about the greatest good. _______________________
Practically, what does this look like?
It looks like starting your day not with a to-do list to chase through, but rather a time list of your waking hours. While you can start with just your work life, I suggest approaching all of your time from this view. List out each hour from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed and ask yourself how you would like to invest that time. Do this up front at the start of your day, or even the night before. It could be that from 11:00am–12:00pm, you want to invest in a project or a relationship, from 12:00-1:00pm you want to eat lunch and catch up on email. The details will be specific to you and your life circumstances.
As “time investors,” we ask, where can I put my awareness, attention, and energy to make this moment — which is a finite resource — the most meaningful and impactful?
Some of this time will likely be used for to-dos and tasks. But rather than trying to fit everything in, you will be consciously choosing how you want to invest that once-in-a-lifetime block of time. You will likely find that some of your to dos and important projects won’t fit. This is a good thing, as it offers you the chance up front to say no based on the constraints of reality, rather than wrestling throughout the day to work against the reality. You will be saying, amongst all the competing options (and today we have more than ever), these are the things I choose to invest my life in today. You will be moving from the position of reactor to actor.
Our present moment is a precious thing. We can invest in the present, the future, or both. We can invest in meaning, impact, and growth. And this investment compounds: excellent decisions build on themselves to make our lives better in the future.
And if you do that enough times, you’ll have done something really special. Not only will you be more productive, you’ll also be far more peaceful. I certainly am.
All the best, Steven Lawson
“May each of us examine his thoughts. We all find them concerned with the past or future. We almost never think of the present, and when we do, it is just for the purpose of enlightening the future. The present is never our end. Thus we never live, we only hope to live; and, preparing ourselves to be happy, it is inevitable that we can never be happy.” - Blaise Pascal
GOING DEEPER
Why Successful People Spend 10 Hours a Week Just Thinking - Inc.
Sometimes the wisest thing a person can do in life ends up being fully counterintuitive to their own common sense. If you’ve ever faced emotional burnout due to constant work, consider reading this piece by Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of $250 million company group O2E Brands and find out why he believes you can find more success in life “thinking” throughout your workweek instead of “working.” LINK Investing is Like Nutrition - Medium
Often insight comes to us through analogy. These tips, while centered on the connection between investing and nutrition, draw out principles that will help you reconsider productivity and the way you approach your time. LINK Time Management Won’t Save You - Harvard Business Review
Have you ever found yourself feeling like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew? Many of us have and then wondered how to prevent that feeling from happening again. If you find yourself in that camp, this piece by Dane Jensen explains how he’s been able to manage his time properly without the worry of overcommitment. LINK
Featured Art: Mannen Bridge, Fukagawa (Fukagawa Mannenbashi), No. 56 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo - Utagawa Hiroshige (1857)
Steve Whitmore's insight:
So what would this slight change in your thinking do for your stress levels??? Is it really possible?
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This is One Voice Children's Choir covering "Good Job" by Alicia Keys: A Tribute to Covid-19 Heroes
The One Voice Children's Choir would like to say “Good Job” to essential workers, teachers, and parents during this world-wide pandemic. We’re thankful for these unsung heroes and all who are doing their best in these unprecedented times. We invite anyone who is struggling to hear us. You are not alone, you matter, and you are doing a Good Job.
You're the engine that makes all things go And you're always in disguise, my hero I see your light in the dark Smile in my face when we all know it's hard There's no way to ever pay you back Bless your heart, know I love you for that Honest and selfless I don't know if this helps it, but
Good job, you're doin' a good job, a good job You're doin' a good job Don't get too down The world needs you now Know that you matter, matter, matter, yeah You're doin' a good job, a good job You're doin' a good job Don't get too down The world needs you now Know that you matter, matter, matter, yeah
Six in the morning And soon as you walk through that door Everyone needs you again The world's out of order It's not as sound when you're not around All day on your feet, hard to Keep that energy, I know When it feel like the end of the road You don't let go You just press forward
You're the engine that makes all things go And you're always in disguise, my hero I see your light in the dark Smile in my face when we all know it's hard There's no way to ever pay you back Bless your heart, know I love you for that Honest and selfless I don't know if this helps it, but (Good job)
Good job, you're doin' a good job, a good job (Good job) You're doin' a good job Don't get too down The world needs you now Know that you matter, matter, matter, yeah (Yeah, that's a good job) You're doin' a good job, a good job (Good job) You're doin' a good job Don't get too down The world needs you now Know that you matter, matter, matter, yeah
The mothers, the fathers, the teachers that reach us Strangers to friends that show up in the end From the bottom to the top, the listeners that hear us This is for you, you make me fearless
You're doin' a good job, a good job (Oh) You're doin' a good job Don't get too down The world needs you now Know that you matter, matter, matter, yeah
========
"GOOD JOB" Words and Music by Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, The-Dream Music produced, arranged and directed by Masa Fukuda Recorded and mixed by Masa Fukuda @ One Voice Recording Studio Soloists (in order of appearance): Skylee S, Madison K, Tainui T, Evie M, Jacob B, Ruby C, Nat P, Ava Z, William K, Liliana T, Jacie N, Hallie C, Hallie N
Actors: AJ W, Abbie S, Jacob B, Breanna B, Taylor and Bailee Morris and Kids, Kelli K and kids
Video Credits: Producer / Director: Michelle Boothe, Tanner DeWaal Cinematography and Editing: RJ Idos For business inquiries contact: idosmediallc@gmail.com https://www.youtube.com/idosmedia Lead Production Assistant: Linda Jo Whitman Other Production Help: One Voice Production Team Wardrobe Specialist: Emily Childs Other Wardrobe Help: One Voice Wardrobe Team Production Sound Assistant: Robert Wyss
Time is one of the most important commodities we have, especially as social workers. When I started my career, I heard a lot of remarks about working overtime and being underpaid. To be clear, these were not always complaints. More often they were stated as a fact; as if the harder we worked and the less we were paid, the better, more honorable a social worker we became. Don’t get me wrong, I bleed for social work. However, if I am overworked and burnt out, I am not the best social worker I can be. I made a promise to myself in graduate school that I would set firm boundaries and adhere to them, especially when it came to my time. And guess what – it worked! Yes, I had some days which necessitated some late afternoons and evenings, but overall, I was headed home at an appropriate time. There are a few things I did to make this happen, but a large contributor was my organization skills. I know what you might be thinking… ‘I don’t have time to read an article, let alone the time to create an organization system!’ But here’s the thing - you have to spend time to get time back into your very busy schedule. The more you have to do, and the less time you have to do it all, the more time you should spend planning how you will get it all done. Once you have a solid organization system you will be able to see what needs to be done now, and what can be put off for later. The time and energy you put in now for organization will pay off!
Steve Whitmore's insight:
Staying organized has never been so important. What systems do you use? Thanks @TheSSWAA
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
Steve Whitmore's insight:
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Some days, it is difficult to get motivated to start the day just because it is cold and I do not want to get out of my fortress of comfort, surrounded by my pillows and loved ones. I do not want to be productive; I just want to stay there an
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Steve Whitmore's insight:
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Steve Whitmore's insight:
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Steve Whitmore's insight:
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Steve Whitmore's insight:
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What I now know is that talking about my experiences has allowed other people to feel safe enough to talk about theirs, and that my work performance doesn’t suffer because of my mental illness.
Steve Whitmore's insight:
This is a thought provoking blog. It brings to light secondary trauma as well as possible other struggles. Thanks @SchoolSocWork
The trauma students experience can affect teachers too, physically and emotionally. So schools in Detroit are helping teachers process their interactions with students and better understand their own trauma using reflective supervision.
Steve Whitmore's insight:
Wondering if this would be helpful for other types of educators?
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