Spending My Time
It dawned on me this morning that every moment of my time is spent. If I make $50 per hour and I spend two hours surfing channels of reruns then I have just spent $100 doing nothing. The shock motivated me to do a little more.
I was determined to get right to work when I turned on my computer, but emails and RSS feeds caught my attention. Ironically one of the posts was from 5 Minutes for Mom and it was about time. The post focused on how much sleep we need each night, but the generally concept of how we use time is what I gleaned from the post.
Six hours of sleep is all that I need on average (although I’ve noticed that since winter has started making a show I’ve needed about seven hours). That means I have 18 hours of time when I am awake to complete my writing, clean the house and have ME time. I should be able to get it done, but I usually find myself lacking. I blame one thing and one thing alone – PROCRASTINATION.
My ability to procrastinate had been perfected over many years – and I was enabled by my mother. The science project that was given out at the first of the semester would not be started until the night before it was due. I would spend all night working and then she would drop it off at school while I slept the day away. The worst part of it all was that I could make all A’s with my procrastination. The only challenge for me was in seeing how long I could wait and so wait I did.
Keeping a budget is important to how we handle our finances in this house, so I guess it’s time that I start keeping a written time budget (that includes a dollar number beside what I’m doing). If I am aware of what I am spending then I might spend my time a little more wisely in the future.
1. Write down every thing that I do that is not productive (watch television, gossip on the phone or IM, surf the internet for no reason).
2. Put a dollar amount beside each item of time based on the $50 per hour goal that I have for my writing.
3. Total up at the end of the day what I am wasting away!
Seeing my time in dollar amounts should help me to stay focused and motivated. The challenge of saving a few bucks has helped me whip our finances in order so maybe the new challenge of spending time will do the same with my schedule.
