Where Does The Time Go?

I’m not a planner. Well, I guess that’s not entirely truthful, but when it comes to the monotony of daily living, I rarely plan. Now, I could go deep into my inner-psyche and explain the exact reasons why I have spent the last couple of years being a crappy planner, but instead, let’s focus on the solution.

Two weeks ago, at the Quitter conference, Jon Acuff talked about conducting a time audit to see where you’re truly spending the hours of your days. At that time, I felt like I wouldn’t get much out of the exercise. I’m self-aware, fairly successful, and pretty well organized. But as I started to think more about my daily activities, I realized that I there was probably *ahem* a little room for improvement.

“If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” – Harvey Mackay

So, I decided to use last week as a control week, and track every hour of my life for 7 days using Google Calendar. The data was pretty eye-opening. Gone was the fun house mirror of my perceptions of time, and instead, I saw just how wasteful I was with the minutes I have.

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

I must really hate sleeping. I go to bed between the hours of 9:00 PM and 1:00 AM. Not once did I go to bed at the same time as another day. And, if I hate sleeping, it must be because of my bed, because I am really good at falling asleep on the couch. I did that twice. But I don’t stay asleep on the couch, instead, in the middle of the night, I wake up, turn off the TV and all of the lights in the living room, walk upstairs to my bedroom, go through my getting ready for bed ritual, and then, finally, go back to sleep. You can imagine how rested I feel the next day.

My alarm goes off at the same time every day, 5:00 AM. Some days I hop out of bed immediately, and on other days I roll out of bed around 7:30 AM. I’m a pro-snoozer. Olympic-grade.

Including the snooze time, I averaged 6.5 hours of sleep a day. The lack of sleep, combined with the interruptions, and inconsistency in my nighttime schedule is most definitely hampering my ability to succeed every day.

The Rat Race

My commutes aren’t nearly as bad as I thought they were. I seem to always think that I’m going to be in traffic for over 3 hours a day, but last week showed me that my commute to work takes about 40 minutes, while my commute home takes only 30 minutes. Granted, there are occasional delays that cause my commute time to skyrocket, but it happens far less than I thought.

Work/Life Balance

Being a “recovering workaholic”, I try really hard to maintain a balanced lifestyle, and I’m happy to say that it feels like I’m doing OK in that area of my life. From time-to-time, there are moments where I have to swing by the office on a Saturday morning or stay late on an off Tuesday, but I’m pretty happy with the balance that I’m keeping at the moment, and hope that I can keep this schedule.

Television Is Rotting My Brain

I’ve never been a big fan of TV. The news is depressing. Reality TV must be from some other alternate reality. And I feel like saying “I like this show” aloud is like the kiss of death, for those shows rarely see another season.

All that being said, I spent 8 hours in front of the boob tube last week. I can name 4 things that I should have been doing instead, and wish that I could have that time back.

I Used To Be A Gym Rat

Speaking of things that I should have been doing… I remember the good ‘ol days. Ya know, the ones where I used to go to the gym 5 days a week. It was a part of who I was, and people took notice. I liked that. No, scratch that. I loved that. It was addicting like a drug, and I couldn’t get enough. Sadly, somewhere along the way, it became lost in my list of priorities. I didn’t go to the gym once last week.

< Insert huge sigh of disgust and self-loathing here />

I Was A Crappy Planner

I wasn’t a planner… Until I realized just how many minutes I was letting slip away. Time is a finite currency. Unfortunately, no one can tell me just how “rich” I am, so I’m being more deliberate with each minute that I have.

• Sleep is going to be predictable and plentiful.
• The cable box is going bye-bye in the car-car.
• The front desk persons at the gym are going to know me by name.
• The workaholic in me, well… he’s not coming back any time soon.

What about you? Do you know where your time is being spent? Do you waste as much as me, or am I truly a slacker the likes of which the world has never seen before? I’d love to hear your insight.

Focus on the things you love.

Last weekend, while having an in-depth conversation with my friend over breakfast, I referenced John Acuff‘s book, Quitter. In the book he talks about giving priority to the things that you love to do, and focusing your attention on the things that you like to do, afterwards. As soon as I started talking about it, I felt convicted. Despite having really felt a connection with what Jon had said, and parroting it to people many times afterwards, I had failed to implement this piece of advice into my own life.

Therefore, I’ve decided to make February the month of focus. Every day, for the next month, I plan to start my mornings off by doing something that I love before diving into the things that I like to do. I’m hoping that it brings some more purpose and passion into my daily life, instead of waiting for the weekends to get out there and “live”.

So what kind of things will I be embarking on over the next month? Well, I spent yesterday morning sleeping in. Now, that wasn’t really doing anything, but I’ve been working like a maniac for the past 3 weeks, and it was just what the doctor ordered. Today, I’m blogging, and though I’m horrible at it, I plan to stick with it for at least a month. Some additional things that I plan on putting first this month are:

• Read His Word – In everything that I do, I want to put God first.
• Photography – Finally get my portfolio out there (It’s almost done), and start snapping away. I’ll probably spend several mornings taking photowalks downtown and in the neighboring areas.
• Exercise – I want to be in the gym at least 3 days a week from now until forever.
• Practice Playing Guitar – I dabbled here and there in college, but it’s time to get away from tabs and learn how to actually play.
• Keep In Touch – When life gets busy, I become a horrible friend, and lose contact with my closest friends. They’re an understanding bunch, but that doesn’t mean that I should be relying on that. I plan to reconnect and let people know just how much they mean to me.

That looks like a good enough list for now. It will be exciting to see how I feel at the end of the month, but until then, I’ll enjoy each day.

2011

2010: A Year In Retrospect

2010 was a busy year. One that flew by so quickly that left me sometimes wishing that I could somehow put on the brakes, but with a lot of perseverance and support, I crossed the following off of my list:

• truebluetitan returned,
• Built and moved into a new townhouse,
• Ended relationships with old friendships acquaintances,
• Built new stronger relationships,
• Obtained my PMP certification,
• Started taking MBA classes, and
• Received a promotion at work.

2011: From Good To Great

Unquestionably, it was the hardest year of my life, but it gave me confidence in knowing that I am moving in the right direction. As you will read below, 2011 is all about constructing a “house” on the foundation that I crafted last year. It’s going to be another whirlwind year, but I’m confident that the last year of my twenties will be one for the history books. Here are my 2011 Resolutions:

1. Live for Him. Above all else, I want to continue changing the focus of my life from what I want to do and control to what He wants me to do. In 2010 I began regularly attending mass and even joined a bible study group. It was a great first step, but in 2011, I need to focus on going from a human “doing” to a human “being” and truly live for Him.
2. Get Organized. I used to be the epitome of an organized person. I had all of my paperwork organized in color-coded folders. A label maker was my best friend and Mint.com was a site that I visited many times a day. Fast-forward a year and I’m certainly off of my game. Combine that with a mailman that sometimes delivers my mail to me and you’re just beginning to see the tip of my frustration iceberg. It’s time to get back on target – I can’t accomplish the rest of these resolutions without this one.
3. Give Back. I focused a lot on myself last year knowing that I can’t truly help anyone else unless I felt strong in who I was. And so I promised myself that I would help others just as soon as I felt that I had my feet firmly planted. Thankfully, I’m there, and a large focus of mine this year will be to help others achieve their goals and aspirations.
4. Be An Entrepreneur. Ever since I was 17 I have run a business in one form or another. It’s an amazing feeling to work for yourself, but at times it can be quite stressful and quickly eat up every free hour that you have. With my newfound elevated responsibility at my day job, I need to take a long hard look at myself in the mirror and decide what I’m going to do in this realm this year. There will be no more ala carte side jobs. If I’m going to grow my business then I need to stick with what I do best, eliminate the rest, and excel.
5. Financial Freedom. In 2011, I want to be debt free, minus my mortgage. Having just bought a car in 2010 this is going to be quite a challenge, but I’m confident that I can make it happen. Ever since I was an adult I have carried some form of debt. That ends this year.
6. Physical Fitness. Last year a friend introduced me to Tony Horton’s P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program. Since then, I have attempted the program twice, but haven’t been able to successfully push my way through the entire 90-day regiment. It’s the most humbling routine that I have ever tried, and the time commitment requires a lifestyle change. In 2011, I will complete the program at least twice and be in the best shape of my life – just in time for the big 3 – 0.
7. Focus my Hobbies. I’m a tinkerer. I like to try a lot of different things. As a result I have a lot of different hobbies. Too many. I want need to focus on just a few of them and take time to really enjoy myself. In 2011, I’m going to limit my hobbies to digital photography (with my new Nikon D90), learning guitar, and home interior design/renovation of my new townhouse.

8. Eliminate Distractions. Let’s face it. I will never accomplish the other resolutions unless I eliminate the distractions in my life. In 2010 I made great strides in cutting drama from my life by distancing myself from the “Must Be Nice” and “I Need To” people (more on them at a later date) that I know.

   In 2011, I will continue to eliminate distractions and focus on removing the less constructive habits that I’ve formed (i.e. watching television and pointless Internet surfing) and replace them with more exciting habits (i.e. Reading through my book backlog and focusing on my new hobbies).

So there you have it. I’m praying that I can usher in 2012 with a checklist of accomplished items and talk about the ferver I have for my life, but only time will tell. Until then, I wish you all a very happy New Year and hope that this is the year for you.