A recent digression on the “Cervelo Markup” thread got me rolling on this subject…Most of us are Type "A"s around here…more or less driven to succeed in most, if not all areas of our lives…
Time is valuable…and despite the fact that “time” will outlast us all…it is NOT an inexhaustible asset…No matter how much some wish for more than 24 hours in a day, or 168 hours in a week…that’s all we get.
I’ve personally had to REALLY reconsider my time prioritization in the last couple of years…I made what many of my peers consider RADICAL changes in the way I live my daily life…
How about you? How do you REALLY prioritize your time? Do you REALLY live that way, or just wish it could be that way but won’t give up the perks of a high $ (whatever that term means to you, personally) job, or living in an exclusive neighborhood even though its inordinately far from your job or wherever else you spend most of your time…etc…??? What does your time mean to you, and how do you work to improve your efficient use of it?
I made some fairly radical changes in my lifestyle as well over the last 12-18 months. I am, what most would consider, a “high potential” when it comes to corporate success. I made some very deliberate choices to move from a general leadership path in a high volume, high stress, environment to a much lower stress lumpier volume business. This has allowed me to change my life substantially. For the most part I have been able to dedicate roughly 15 hours per week to training (yes with my wife’s blessing), sure there have been the occasional trips and late nights but much less than the previous 5-6 years. I am losing weight, my attitude is improving, my conditioning is obviously improving, etc. I will try not to fall into the corporate rat race trap again, life is just too short.
Another couple of thoughts. First, to me, value is the difference between price and cost. What I mean by that is there is cost to every hour of my time, and if I can free up some of that time at a price that is less than, equal to, or in some cases exceeds my costs I am still getting value from the freed up time. Second, I am taking advantage of some “services” that in the past I would have considered excessive but now view as valuable because they free up my time for more enjoyable activites.
Well, in terms of values, I am in a position where I have to place certai things in front of my own desires frequently. Everybody is like that.
Most people have a family or S.O. and that comes first. Then perhaps their work and then maybe friends.
I put work high on the list since we have an obligation to the customers who trust us and I enjoy the work, so that is very important. I also put my two cats very high on the list- if one of them gets sick or needs something that goes to the top of the list. They provide a lot of comfort and friendship so they are very important. Also, they were both abandoned by other people so they deserve a break becasue they have returned so much to me in the way of friendship and companionship.
I had a back accident in 1997 that made me re-evaluate things and I promised I would get a lot of stuff done soon before the opportunity expired. That has been a good decision.
Nothing is more valuable than time. Ask a dying man.
Indeed, time is very important. Thats why I put triathlon training and racing on the extreme back-burner in 1997, the year that my son was born. There was no way that I could continue to devote that much time to it. I’d had a great run of it for 20+ years of high level running and triathlon and it was time for other things to take priority.
Now I am back ion the sport indirectly - with a small business project and supporting my girlfriend and helping her achieve her athletic goals. I love being on the sidelines!
“Time is valuable…and despite the fact that “time” will outlast us all…it is NOT an inexhaustible asset…No matter how much some wish for more than 24 hours in a day, or 168 hours in a week…that’s all we get.”
These are the reasons I do what I do: Work 40-50 hours a week, less than 40 weeks a year as teacher. Sure summers may be filled with coursework, but when I am not “working,” it feels like time off. Everyone should have several weeks off a year, especially if they work 60-hour weeks. How could you not? But many of us our suckers. Sorry to say it. Of course I have never made six figures, then had to live on a lot less so I don’t know what that’s like. I am content with the fact I will never own a big home or a $10,000 bike, either. Who cares?
Long ago I decided if I am happy 4 of 5 days a week at work (I am) and can accomplish 4 of 5 things I want to do in training and racing and, especially in being a better person, life is good. Being single, a 1,000-sq. foot house and a dog (soon) is all I need. A $1,000 bike is all I need for now, too. Time off makes me a better teacher, a better person, healthier, the list goes on. If I had to support someone, I don’t know what I would do: I sure won’t marry anyone who wants a lot of ‘things,’ I can tell you that. I would also rather see my kids more often than be able to give them more things. Who wants to raise spoiled kids who never see their Dad, anyway?
My sense, from talking to folks and observing responses to posts like this…is that most folks have a hard time REALLY rearranging their lives to accomodate their true priorities. Most often I observe that they simply deny one thing to accomdate another thing that currently rates higher on their needs (or wants) prioritization…but at their core, they haven’t really done anything except try to keep the plates all spinning. Some folks simply have a lot of plates…that isn’t in itself a bad thing…as long as you can prioritize them and NOT have to shift the prioritization often to keep them spinning. Some folks let one plate get WAY too big and give it all their energy to keep it spinning at the expense of other things…often things that mean more to them deep down.
I should caveat that I DO believe there are things that demand that we rethink our time expenditure…a battle with cancer…child with long term medical problems…etc…but the way we value our time ought to make these choices easy…they simply reinforce good prioritization… We can’t always account for such short term sacrifices like these and others like short-term work demands like major projects or military deployments…
One way in which folks REALLY go wrong, in my opinion, is to try and add significant increases in time demand to the existing schedule…i.e. something like significant family medical emergency or major work project demanding their own big chunk of time demand and NOT reducing things accordingly.
I have been counseled more than once that while my priorities realignment is admirable…that I need to be able to make the sacrifices necessary to do this or that…If I need to get up at, say, 3:30 or 4:00 everyday to make sure I have time to get work stuff done, for instance…and still maintain my family time and self time (an important piece that folks often misuse or ignore)… I say hogwash (Once upon a time I would have agreed wholeheartedly, though). That isn’t balance…that is borrowing time…and my experience with borrowing time is that it charges loanshark like interest rates. You are going to pay the piper sooner or later.