WillNaylor.NET

If there is ever a phrase that irks me it’s “I’m going to spend time with/doing <blah>”

‘Spend’ time? Since when has time been equivalent of a currency? Not only has consumerism have us obsessed with wanting more stuff it also has warped our concept of time – as if it were a commodity we knew we were going to run out of.

And now there seems to be some underlying necessity to cram our lives as a sequence of events, scheduled to maximise our return on investment – cashing in time in calculated increments in the hope to make us feel ‘balanced’.

My theory on being ‘balanced’ – it’s pedestrian. All you really end up doing is juggling one part of your life with another. Hardly anything extraordinary comes out of a juggling act. Unless you are juggling flaming chainsaws with puppies.

So don’t be afraid to take your work/family/friends/leisure ‘balance’ and change it up a bit – go with the flow; do what comes naturally; focus on something extraordinary or turn something ordinary into something extraordinary. And don’t worry about any downtime – daydreaming is good for you. After all there is no hurry.

With the sheer amount of information and relationships we have to deal with I’d say ‘hyperactive’ be a very appropriate word to describe our generation. And with hyperactivity comes a great deal to juggle in our life – so how to handle it?

By redefining the word “multitasking”. Instead of doing multiple tasks at once, do multiple tasks sequentially. Think about it this way:

We have two eyes to focus on an object;

We have two ears to place a voice;

We have two feet to take one step forward;

And We have two hands to hold our child.

Just because we like to think we can do more things at once in reality it’s not in our nature.

So next time you feel overwhelmed remember only one thing is ever at the top of a list of priorities. Others will remember a job well done long after the wait.