“It took longer than I thought it would.”
Those are the only words I am forbidden to speak to my wife… and for good reason! As a young graduate student, time management was my biggest weakness. I would head off to school every day with a list of things that needed done: research, study, homework… and I told myself that I wouldn’t go home until the List was DONE.
One of my strengths at the time was discipline: if I said I was staying until the work was done, I stayed.
Often until 3 am.
My relationships became strained. My friends weren’t working like maniacs, and they were still doing well. Why couldn’t I be an excellent student, do cutting edge research, and still have a life like they did?
It all changed when I made a new commitment:
I would be home for dinner and I wouldn’t work in the evenings. The strangest thing happened: I started getting MORE done!!
I discovered that by committing to stopping at a certain time, I had to make trade offs. I had to allocate time to each task and then STOP. If I let one task run over, it stole time from another. It took a little while to get this figured out, but I finally reached a place of balance… and I never looked back!
If you’d like help balancing your time, we’re running a workshop for the month of March called Midterm Rehab. This quick workshop will get you back in control of your Time, Money, and Career so that you can finish this semester strong. For more information, visit www.intentionalacademy.com or email rehab@intentionalacademy.com. This can still be the best semester you’ve ever had!
