Don't we all sometimes feel overworked, over-scheduled, too busy...we'd really love to do X, Y, or Z, but we can't find the time? I think lots of us at times feel that way. So what kinds of things can we do? But today I found this: the story below is about a busy lawyer who really wanted to find the time to run...but couldn't seem to do so. So he got some help. See what he did--and maybe some of the ideas he used can work for you, too. Read on:
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The 21 Day Timehacker Project matches readers with coaches who help them find time for their most important goals.
DAY ONE:
Tim Wiseman, 31, a single lawyer in Lexington, Kentucky, used to love
to run. He ran to stay in shape, to clear his head and have fun and to
connect with friends – traveling to Chicago to run a marathon, to
Virginia Beach for a half-marathon and other places. Running also made
him feel more balanced, like he had room in his life for something other
than work
But once he started working a few years ago for a law
firm, he stopped. He worried he didn’t have the time to run, and that
what time he did have should be devoted to work. Then inertia set in.
“As
an attorney, time is how I am measured, specifically the time I bill,
which is not necessarily the same as time worked,” he said. “So there is
pressure to use the hours for work. Honorable mention goes to my
iPhone. It is a time drain.”
Wiseman wanted to find time to run again.
THE TIME HACKS: Wiseman worked with Nicole Coomber, a management professor at the University of Maryland who also runs Managing Motherhood, a media and consulting firm designed to help parents “manage the imperfection” and chaos better. She suggested four Timehacks:
1. DEFINE WHAT’S ESSENTIAL: Coomber
had Wiseman work on an exercise that Warren Buffet encourages: list 25
things you’d like to accomplish in your life. And from that list, pick
five that are essential. From there, figure out how to channel your time
and energy into achieving your top priorities.
“Tim has, in the
past, accomplished some great things like running a marathon. His job
has become more demanding and takes up more of his time, and he feels
guilty for not doing some of the things he used to find time for quite
easily, like running, recreational reading, and having fun,” Coomber
said. “As we become more busy and essential at work, it’s hard to
determine what else in our life should take priority.”
Becoming clear on what’s essential helps alleviate the guilt that can
arise when it comes to doing something enjoyable outside work.
2. SET A REASONABLE SCHEDULE: Coomber
urged Wiseman to think differently about work – that he really couldn’t
work around the clock without seeing diminishing returns at work and in
life. She asked him to start tracking how much energy, emotionally,
physically and mentally, went into the tasks he assigned himself, and
start giving himself more reasonable deadlines.
3. CREATE NEW HABITS:
Decision fatigue and information overload can cloud our choices.
“Deciding to exercise becomes harder unless we can make it a habit,”
Coomber said. “Figuring out the key to how you work and how you can make
things habits for yourself, what motivates you, is truly key.
4. FIND THE MOTIVATOR:
“I found that with Tim, motivation would be better when he figured out
what would get him in his running shoes. For him, the competition was
key to getting him focused!” Coomber said.
She suggested making a
bet with a friend about running in an upcoming race. The competition
would serve as motivation, as well as keep serve to keep him accountable
to his goal.
DAY 21: By the time I caught up
with Wiseman, he’d made running an automatic habit by following a
half-marathon training plan and running five or six times a week,
usually in the evenings after work. “It’s been a good way to unwind
after the day,” he said.
He’d signed up to run the Urban Bourbon
Half Marathon in Louisville. And, to keep his motivation high, he’d made
a $200 bet with a friend that he would beat his best half-marathon time
of 1 hour and 55 minutes. “Another friend thinks I won’t do it and has
bet another $100,” Wiseman said. “So I want to double down on my
training to show I can.”
Either way, he said, he can’t lose.
“It’s been good to get back into running and just try,” Wiseman said
“It’ll be a small price to pay if I don’t make it by a few seconds.”
Wiseman
said figuring out his top, essential, priorities helped him see that
running really is important to him, to his sense of feeling balanced,
and is worth his time. That eased the feelings of guilt for making the
time to do it. “I have tried to be better about not feeling “guilt” or
whatever about taking time to do what I feel is important rather than
what someone else may think,” he said.
He’s been working to set a more realistic schedule: “No more endless
To Do lists that only serve to become sources of guilt,” he said.
“I’m
low on the totem pole at the low firm, so I don’t have total control
over my work schedule. But at least, I’m learning not to overpromise,”
he said. “That’s a problem every junior attorney has: you overpromise
and end up under delivering because there just aren’t enough hours in
the day.
“I’m recognizing it’s OK to be reasonable, because you
want to do your best,” he added. “It’s all about finding that middle
ground.”
Since he’s been running, Wiseman said he’s been sleeper
better, eating better, feeling better, and has a better attitude. And he
thinks he’s working better, too. “At least I hope so,” he said. “We’ll
see when I have my evaluation.”
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