“How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives,” wrote author Annie Dillard. “What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing.”
No matter what I think my priorities are, what I actually devote my time to is what I’m choosing to make a priority in my life. But do I really know how I spend every minute or my day?
There are 1,440 minutes in a day. Even with a healthy eight hours of sleep, there are nearly 1,000 minutes to fill with anything I want to do. And yet, I often get to the end of the day and feel like I didn’t have enough time for everything that mattered. Something must be taking more time than it deserves, and I need to figure out what so I can stop wasting time and make every day more meaningful.
Between my two phones, my career and the Internet, there’s always something pulling my attention away from the here and now. It’s easy to let minutes, hours and even days slip by without a second thought.
Starting today, I’m going to live more in the moment. For me, it is never more important than now.
My phones are probably the greatest sources of distraction in my life. Even at important meetings or events, if I hear a buzz, I’ll try to discreetly check it under the table, incapable of disconnection for even a short length of time. So, I’m going to force myself to unplug. I’ll set it to silent, turn it off or leave it at home.
Instead of reading or watching a Hallmark movie while I eat lunch, I’ll just eat lunch. I’m not fully present in the moment when my attention is split between ten different things. Focusing on one activity at a time will help me enjoy each more fully.
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik Tok can all be addicting. Nothing compares to the real thing. I often get sucked in to the online world and place far too much value on my profile and how my life appears. Spending less time worrying about my online persona will leave more time for actual living.
And I’m going to learn to say “no, thank you” or simply “no” more often when saying yes will add unwanted strain to my family’s life instead of bringing me satisfaction.
We all have things we value and feel are really important in life, but the true test of that belief is reflected in how we spend our time, money, and resources. So, I’m going to track my time and see what I do in a day. By tracking how I spend my time, I should begin to see what I put first day after day.
I want to match my activities to my goals. Focus on the big-picture, like Thrive at 55, and ask myself how does what I am doing tie into one of those goals, and be fully aware of what is being lost in the shuffle.
The Squirrelly Mamas Chatter Podcast is focusing on this very topic. You can listen here:
How about you? Are you going to make the commitment to live in the moment, starting today? Join in the conversation and leave a comment below!
