Using time wisely has long been a major concern of mine. I’m sure I am not unique. Time is for many of us our most limited resource, blessed as some of us are with sufficient resources to live our lives well. Time is a fixed resource for all.
One thing I have made time for in my life in recent years is participating in the accountability group “Whatever It Takes”. Doing so has helped me in doing what I say that I want to do, and much of this is related to making conscious choices about what I do with my limited time.
As part of my participation I adopted an affirmation that I speak at least once a day. I chose as my affirmation: “….. I use my time wisely”, hoping that by repeating this affirmation daily, I will indeed use my time wisely. This has proved true.
As I speak out loud or imagine my affirmation: “I use my time wisely”, I refocus my energy and my awareness of what I am doing and what choices I have the opportunity to make that could allow me to align my life with my core value of using my time wisely.
Some aspects of using time wisely are quite clear such as limiting or eliminating scrolling through Facebook or other social media, as sent to me by an algorithm. And, I still do these things, for short durations. If I continue scrolling, my affirmation at some point drifts into my awareness and I stop. I realign what I am doing with what I see as important and “wise” to be doing.
I am not a big fan of frequent check-ins with a to-do list, nor with abdicating my personal choice to a prioritized list. Though, I admit to spending considerable time most weeks immersed in my Todoist to-do list, even as this time often feels like an unwise use of my time. I am fully aware that choices that I make may never be perfect.
I am an improviser, or one with a strong bias toward improvisation. Holding the mantra of “using my time wisely” puts a driver deep in my awareness that influences my improvisational impulse to at least be somewhat aware of the choices I am making of what to do. This goes a bit contrary to my improviser self, yet, I am finding a balance between following my momentum and improvisational impulse with deliberately choosing what to do. This is now part of the way I dance through my days, and I like it.
My clear impression or judgment is that since I have been using the affirmation: “…. I use my time wisely”, is that the choices I am making of how to use my time have become “better”. What I choose to do and what I choose to let go of, or postpone, are more aligned with my core values and priorities, than they have been in the past when I was not holding this simple phrase in my awareness. “I use my time wisely.”