In our first article, we looked at what veterinary Professionals need for a healthy work-life balance. We did this by understanding the difference between what we need and what we want and creating a wish list of goals. Customizing this list is how you can begin prioritizing tasks and improving productivity. The time is takes to complete each task is your biggest challenge. Mastering efficiency requires a tool called Time Mapping.
This article is Part 2 in the series and take you on a journey to uncomplicate your busy life.
What Does Time Mean to You?
Society measures time with clocks, watches, and calendars. But this complex way of dividing the day and night is just a modern construct. How does time “feel” when you correlate it to life experiences, such as:
- Memories
- Aging
- Purchasing valuable or sentimental possessions
- Facing financial challenges and burdens
- Achieving your goals for balance or success
Looking back at previous experiences and goals gives us insight into our concept of time in certain situations. When asking others about their concept of time, they seemed to agree that time had nothing to do with where or how they spend their lives. Rather, it’s the unique value they assigned to it. That value varies based on the circumstances in our lives and influences on our short and long-term desires.
What are You Frustrated About Not Having Enough Time?
When people feel frustrated about time, it often leads to common feelings of overwhelm and excuses. We tell ourselves we can’t get everything done, we miss opportunities, and daily tasks become unsustainable. We may even focus on our age and whether we have enough time left in life to reach our goals.
Time may be a limited resource over which we have little perceived control. But by managing our time effectively, we give each moment of time an assigned value, worth, and meaning. We prioritize tasks according to the value of time it takes to complete it, replace the distractions and excuses with a logical plan, and focus on the end result. Suddenly we realize we can accomplish everything we set out to do.
What is One Word that Describes the Right Amount of Time to Do Everything You Need to Do?
It is clearly about the ability to access the time you have and apply it to what you decide is most valuable to you. How you access your time is not about the past or the future. Through conscious awareness, you get to make choices to the best of your ability, based on what you have, feel, and see with what you know and experience now.
This article introduces concepts found in Dr. Ingrid Pyka’s books, “I Can, I Will, I am. Finding the Gift of Time, and Stop! Step Back and Grow.” Business owners and employees who want to improve their quality of life can use them as resources for learning simple time-mapping techniques.
The purpose of Time Mapping is to lose the guilt, decrease stress, and ultimately, achieve more with less time than you ever thought possible. You get to discover how best to relate these concepts of time to your own world and welcome extraordinary results. Our next article will help you learn how to divide your time into blocks, rearranging your tasks for the best possible outcome.
