Organizing My Time

The Fallacy of Time Management

A fallacy exists concerning time management. Time cannot be managed. It goes by whether we do anything constructive with it or not. Every day has 24 hours. Every hour has sixty minutes. Every minute has sixty seconds. It is not therefore time that is managed, it is what we do during the time allotted to us. The more we focus on specific projects during a specific length of time determines how much we get done during that time.

The Edges of our Routines

Lately I have been studying permaculture. Permaculture is a concept that integrates farming practices with how nature does things without any help from man at all. In permaculture, land does not produce less per acre than commercial farming practices but in fact produces exponentially more per acre. The acreage simply does not produce as much of any single crop as commercial farming practices do.

Transitional areas between pasture and woodlands is called “the edge”. The edge is the part of the land where most of the action is taking place. It is at the edge of the forest that there is the most variety of plants and most of the animals live, breed, and raise their young.

Our daily activities are similar in that we do the most activity during transitional times during the day. For instance, our morning routine is an edge between sleep and work. Mealtimes are an edge as is the time in which we leave work and return home. Our final edge is at the end of our waking hours when we are preparing for sleep.

To make the most of our edges to our days, we develop routines containing numerous habits that we perform. It is in these edges of our day that we can remove bad habits or add the new habits that we want to create.

Changing My Days to Make Them More Productive

I am currently analyzing my day to determine how I can make each and every day more productive than the last. I am going through each one of my transitional edges to give me a better edge for making each day better. The edges or transition periods of my routine exist in my wakeup routine, bedtime routine, during meals, and between work and afternoon home time.

So far, I have determined that during my waking routine,

• I need to begin adding several minutes of exercise.

At the end of the day transition between being awake and sleeping,

• I need to include time for a brain-dump.
• I also need to spend some time thinking about all the things that i am grateful for.
• In addition, I need to spend more time the night before determining what I am going to do the next day. In my mealtime routines.

I believe it is important  to complete the mealtime routine.

• I need to set aside the time to prepare the meal, sit down to enjoy the meal, and then take the time right then to do cleanup of the meal.
• In addition, I would do well to write out a weekly meal schedule so that I make certain that I have all the food available for that meal by going shopping just one time per week instead of several times during the week.

I plan to have a definite end to my work day schedule and offer myself time to relax and rejuvenate at the end of the day.

• All work and no play can make Cygnet a dull girl, therefore I am going to plan a rest time at the end of my designated work time.
• I could get a bite to eat, or drink a glass of water.
• I could do some relaxation exercises.
• I could just lie down for a few minutes
• I could do some meditation or prayer

Although I have yet to implement these intentions into my day, I have identified different ways I can better utilize these transitional times during my day. Many of these things just take a few minutes to do, but could make a mountain of difference in how productive I can be day in and day out.