Time stealers. People or things that spend their time helping us waste ours. You know you’ve been robbed when you’re frustrated and hear yourself saying, “I wish I hadn’t spent so much time _______. Or, I never have time to _______.”
It sounds selfish, as I write this. This notion that my time is so important I don’t want other things or people taking it away. The word “spent” after the word “time” makes me realize that we are truly stewards of our time—and it goes with each second, never to return. The happier we are in how we spend our time, the happier we can be in our relationships with others.
Here’s some ideas that might help us stop the time thieves:
1. Create dream time. It’s an ongoing process to check in with ourselves about what we want to do with our waking hours. Creating a “dream time” to use imagination and past experiences to think about what we want can help. That might mean five minutes when we wake up or while we’re having coffee. If we don’t know what’s important, time stealers have the advantage.
2. ID your time stealers. Television, emailing, social media, looking at your phone, getting distracted from what you said you wanted or needed to do, saying yes when you should say no, listening to others too long, procrastinating, not prioritizing, getting in a rut? Any of these sound familiar?
About the phone. Not every call is personal or important. The caller ID allows a choice to disregard, answer or call back. You still don’t have to answer right then if you’re in the middle of something you want to finish. Missing a call seems to be on the level of a national emergency unless we can think about what we’re doing with our time.
Or you run into the person who talks non-stop and you end up listening forever. With an awareness that the years are fleeting, I force myself to politely interrupt and say, “Excuse me, I have to go now.” It doesn’t mean I don’t care about the person, but I have to take care of my time. It’s my responsibility.
3. Ask yourself what’s difficult about getting away from time stealers. Does setting limits make you feel like you’ll miss something? Does saying “no” make you feel guilty or rude? Does allowing a conversation to drag on and on make you feel like a better person?
4. Devise some strategies for dealing with time stealers. Let’s say you figure out that time on the internet and specifically social networking are the major time robbers. These things are fun and feel good, so just hoping you won’t spend as much time doing them won’t get it. A little scheduling can help. Check emails or the phone every few hours, not every chance you get. Set a time frame for FaceBook—a certain time of day and a certain number of hours. Don’t believe yourself when you say, “Just a few more minutes.”
5. Check for ruts. Routines can become meaningless ruts if we’re not careful. Ask yourself, “Do I really need to dust the house every other day, or go shopping on Saturdays or do _______ every week? If so, why? What would happen if you didn’t? And what do you want to do instead?
We can’t stop time stealers, but we can make every effort to keep them from robbing us blind.