Sidetracked

Hey all, about that time!

And while we're on the subject, ever wonder where it goes?  And why it gets that much faster the older we get?

And how does everything we want to do get postponed indefinitely because of all the mundane crap that gets in the way?

Trust me, I'm no stranger to that mess.  And once I made the costly error of admitting my lack of time to a critic, I had to listen to him lecturing me about it for an hour, no joke.  Yeahhhh, your friend was not happy about that one, but that's another story.

How do deal?

(1).  Perform An Audit.

No appointment needed for this one.  Just map out the following:

  (A). What MUST be done RIGHT NOW.

  (B).  What MUST be done before you go to sleep tonight.

  (C).  What CAN be done today, but can wait.

  (D).  What CANNOT be done today.  This means a physical impossibility, and not an unwillingness to deal with a pain in the ass.

(2).  Perform an Upgrade.

    As soon as you finish everything in Categories A and B, transfer everything in Category C into those categories.

The key is remaining pro-active, because when our to-do list is empty, we get lazy and indolent.  As beta males, this is our Achilles' heel.  If we are too passive, laid back, and disengaged, we abdicate our power to control our own lives.  We become tools and punching bags.  We become slaves to duty, never able to crawl out from under a mountain of procrastination.  We become crushed by stress and worry, never able to relax and enjoy life.

I don't know about you, but that feels like the opposite of advancement to me.  That feels like inviting the alpholes to have their way with you, because you're stuck and they're not.

Don't abdicate control.  Stay on top of it, whatever it is!  Make your own schedule, blaze your own trail, and NEVER let them trap you into being "too busy!"

I EXIST.  I MATTER.  I BELONG.  I DESERVE.

I AM BOLD.  I AM BULLETPROOF.  I AM BETA.

Making The Time

Hey All -- trying to make up for some lost ground here!

Well, the Games have ended for USA Hockey.  They jazzed us a week ago with that shootout victory over the host nation, but something in them sort of . . . died once the medal round started.  Good luck to Canada and Sweden in the Gold Medal game, nice re-match from 1994 in Lille-hammer.  For us?  Let's just get back to the regular NHL season and all of its unfinished business.

Ever get stuck in a rut?  Just no time for anything because you're too busy doing everything else?  Don't lie and say no.  :)

Those of us who have stressful jobs seem to do nothing but that job, relax from the work week, and rinse and repeat forever.  Those of us who are raising young families have that to an even higher degree.  And 8 hours of sleep a night?  Some of us have just given up on that!

But maybe some of us just make it work through something called "time management."  Instead of feeling overwhelmed that time is overwhelming them, and they'll never get to things they need, they actually find ways to make time work for them instead.

How?  Here's what I see them doing:

(1)  SAYING NO.  If someone other than their superior authority figure tries to interrupt their work, they politely and firmly say, "Not right now," "Come back later," or "I have something to finish."  If someone calls them at the last minute with a gotta-go-here, gotta-go-there idea, they turn them down.  If they've already checked their e-mail or social networking within the last hour, they don't check it yet again!  If they already know that there's something ahead that will WASTE their time, CAUSE unpleasantness, and PREVENT them from doing that which is necessary, they turn it down.

(2)  PRIORITIZING:  If something has a shorter deadline than anything else, that can't be missed, it gets top billing.  NOTHING else gets placed above it, no matter what.  Everything else gets listed in descending order of importance, and gets handled likewise.  Unless there is an unavoidable emergency, NOTHING on that list gets altered.

(3)  LEAVING NOTHING UNFINISHED:  Yes, you can negotiate this a little, but if you can't finish the whole thing in a single sitting, have the good grace to finish a clearly-delineated portion of it, so you'll know exactly where you left off.  Other than symphonies and works of art left undone by the composer's or artist's demise, NOTHING is good enough when it's not really finished.

(4)  PUTTING IN EXTRA HOURS WHEN NEEDED:  We do not only live between the hours of 9 and 5.  If something requires additional time beyond the traditional day, you put in that time.  If you don't want to burn the midnight oil doing it, then boil the morning coffee instead and do it early.  Or just do what we all did in college and put in a good old-fashioned all-nighter, allowing yourself to make up the missed sleep later.

What's that, you say?  You don't want to do it on the all-important weekend?  Oh gee.  What if you have no plans during that all-important weekend?  Do you realllllly need to see who's hosting Saturday Night Live?  I doubt it.  That show has gone south ever since my woman Kristen Wiig left it!  Why not take that extra free time that you're not being paid for someone else's bidding or running some silly household errand and move a little closer to actualizing your dreams?

Oh noooo, you're a man about town, maybe you do have plans on the weekend?  How's about right before you dream on, dream away to slumberland, you make the time to make it real?  Or maybe at the crack of dawn before the rest of the world starts its wacky schedule, you start your own?

This is just another way of claiming your life, your dreams, and your goals for your own, and not to have others continually and eternally dictating them to you.  If you make them matter enough, then nothing -- not Great Aunt Tilly's 86th birthday party, not your friend's children's Sunday school graduation, and not that person at work who alllllllways "a little question," can shut 'em down.  Ya dig?  I dig more.

And by the way, without admitting or denying, confirming or rejecting, yours truly may or may not be doing the same.  ;)

Enjoy our early spring thaw, all!

Too Much Time on Your Hands? Or Maybe Too Little?

Recently, an old friend of mine had a comment to make about this esteemed blog:

"You must have a lot of time on your hands to talk about everything that's right and wrong in this world.  The 'Four Pillars of Manhood?'  Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not going off on your blog, I'm just saying . . . ."

I'll let those words speak for themselves, and withhold judgment.  Of course, this old friend got the title wrong, but "I'm just saying."

However, that comment really did make me think -- do I really have too much time on my hands?  In response, the other side of brain woke up and said, "Doubtful.  Not with the responsibilities I have at work.  Not with the time I put in training for yet another marathon.  Not with the time I spend visiting friends, meeting new people, etc.  Too much time on my hands?  That's nothing more than an old Styx tune!"

You know what, the issue isn't really how much, or how little time we have.  It's how we use that time.  Do we run the clock out, or do we milk it.  Do we try to beat the clock, or do we let it just pass us by?

Many of us have careers that just don't fit into a Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 schedule.  Sometimes we have to get to the office early, sometimes we have to stay late.  Sometimes we have to go in on weekends, sometimes we have to work from home.  If we're focused enough on the job at hand, it shouldn't matter how much time is put into it, but it should matter that we get the job done, and that it's done right.  If anything, I've found that putting in some extra time, just to make sure it's right, is a pretty satisfying experience.  Maybe not like winning the whole ball game, but you definitely put "mas puntos" on the board!

That being said, you can't make a job, or a career, your whole life.  We're equipped to function normally if we're awake only 16 out of 24 hours every day.  We usually have friends and loved ones who miss us when we say we're "too busy," and appreciate us all the more when they're given top billing on our schedule.  And if they really matter, you'll make the time for them, even if you have XYZ to do, and it must be done today!

And of course, if we're too busy to make time for some form of exercise, whether it's hitting the weights, burning up the roads, mixed martial arts or even tai chi, we regret it.  Big time.  Even if you have to work 12 hours a day, if you can't find time to blow off that steam, level off that stress, or just close the door and chillax for a while, you're harming yourself tremendously.

Take me, for example.  My job gives me huge responsibilities that require large amounts of time, but I still make time to run.  If I'm lucky, I give myself three mornings a week for speed work or tempo runs, and then a long run on the weekend.  And not to toot my own horn (don't lie Dave, yes it is), but I enjoyed the fruits of that labor this morning when I ran a 1:44:33 half marathon in 20 degrees.  Of course, I needed to take even more time to get up early this morning to make the 8am starting time, but it was more than worth it.  As many of us runners know, (a) early morning races leave you the rest of the day to use productively; and (b) the "runner's high" that we all get after running that far is our secret weapon in life.  That's why so many runners are basically happy people, and a lot less likely to get agitated or annoyed at life's little annoyances.  Don't get me wrong, we still know they're annoying, we're not the Dalai Lama for cryin' out tears, but we know that getting upset over them would (say it with me, peeps) waste time, and energy, when we could simply keep our chill intact and simply handle life.

And this esteemed blog?  Truth be told, peeps, this most enjoyable hobby of mine takes no more than one hour a week.  And that's including the video.  It doesn't take hours or days to be aware of what's up in the world, or what's up in someone's mind.  It just takes a brief interval to transfer it all from brain to keyboard, and a nanosecond to publish it.

So, people, as another exciting work week begins, let's try to use our time, as much or as little of it as we have, productively.

And don't forget, another gift-giving holiday approaches -- I'll comment on the significant of that day, or possible lack thereof, later.