Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Time Management

Since it was raining last night and I had about an hour to kill while waiting for Jojo to get off from work, I found myself browsing at Borders on 3rd and La Cienega. There was a display right at the center of the store where they were selling 3 books for the price of 2. Since I am a sucker for promotions like this I had to check it out. There were a couple of interesting titles (Close Range by Annie Proulx; Snow Flower & the Secret Fan by Lisa See; Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd; and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez). I stood there for about half an hour reading back covers and prologues, debating about which 3 books I would pick. After meticulously selecting 3 and getting in line to pay, I had to will myself to walk away from the line, return the books, and walk very quickly to my car. That my, dear readers, is EXTREME WILLPOWER! I realized I do not have time to read those books. And having them around would be too much of a temptation and a distraction from everything else I have to do.

Lately, I’ve been suffering from the “24-hours-in-a-day-is-not-enough” syndrome! (Maybe it’s not just me?).

Let’s see, 24 hours in a day. In my case, most (week) days are normally broken down into three equal parts: 8 hours work time (or rather time spent in the office since it’s not really all “work”), 8 hours sleep time, and 8 hours free-for-all time. Free-for-all time includes: 1 hour in the morning to schlep out of bed, shower, blow-dry, change and grab coffee; 2 hours stuck in traffic; 1 hour from when I get off work till I have to pick up Jojo, which I spend either walking (for exercise) or running errands; and 1 hour doing stuff around the house when I get home (making dinner, tidying up; reading mail; and a dozen other “little” things).

That leaves me (more or less) 3 hours for everything else. “Everything else” includes:
· Spending quality time with my hubby;
· Reading stuff and doing homework for my HRM class (not to mention that actual class itself, which is 3 hours every Wed. night and every other Sat. morning);
· Trying to review for the PHR certification exam (which I am hoping I will be ready for in December);
· Getting my reality tv fix (this is my one true guilty pleasure!). Just when one season ends (“Dancing with the Stars” and “Skating with Celebrities”), a new one begins (“The Apprentice” and “American Idol”). I’ve really tried to curb my reality tv viewing, but after I found out there are Filipino contestants on both Idol and Apprentice – how can I not watch??? (FYI: Cheryl Burke (Drew Lachey’s partner) – winners of Dancing with the Stars - is half-Pinoy too!;
· Job searching (am serious about this!!!);
· Posting on my blog (my solution to this is to do it during my lunchbreak at work!);
· Keeping in touch with family and friends – emails; phone calls; instant messenger;
· Reading for pleasure. I've started a “hope-to-read-someday” list;
· Joining extra curricular stuff – am contemplating on signing up for the Torrance Library’s local book club, Michael’s (craft store) jewelry beading class; and our parish’s Catholic Formation program;
· Working out on our home exercise machine (as you can see this is way down on my priorities list!).

To think my hubby and I have not yet been blessed with kids ...

So, unless I can find a way to cut down the time I spend at work (isn’t the Mega Lotto jackpot at $265 million?), find more innovative ways to multi-task, or survive on 4 hours of sleep a night, I think I’ll have to be much more disciplined and stick to prioritizing what I want and have to do!


P.S. I know it's ironic that I keep complaining about not having enough time and yet I manage to write these long posts on my blog. But lately I've come to view blogging as strangely therapeutic. Call it my emotional outlet if you will!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe time management is scheduling your time way in advance to include all important activities that you want to do for a day, a week, etc. It involves doing somethings simoultaneously--like reading and eating lunch or watching TV while exercising. But you must never overdo it for you run the risk of being burnt out. It is better to be busy than to be idle.

Anonymous said...

Little wonder that you do not have enough time. You are holding on to 2 very important and most time demanding roles - housewife and career woman.

Anonymous said...

I say come up with a list of priorities and divide your time based on the list. Doing this, you might discover things that you spend time performing that is not actually a clear priority.

Anonymous said...

Very cool design! Useful information. Go on! » »