DIRECTION

In how many different directions are you going? How many roles are you trying to fulfill?

I consider myself a fairly normal woman. In any given day, I might be a mom, a friend, an ex-wife, an employee, a manager, a teacher, a student, PTO President, Cub Scout Mom, Volunteer, the cleaning lady, cook, dishwasher. The list is endless.  And varied. And the tasks all go different directions.

So do the skill sets needed to fulfill those duties. They are frequently shifting. It can be exhausting.

When you look at your roles, you have to ask yourself, how many of those are actually making you happy? Satisfied? Fulfilled?

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about FOCUS in which I suggested time tracking – especially if you felt out of focus, but it can be a useful tool even if you think you are moving along as you had planned. Literally writing down every minute of your day and what you are doing in it to help figure out where your focus is.

Are you utilizing your 1440 minutes in a way that compliments or contrasts your values, goals, dreams – Is your FOCUS helping you go in the right DIRECTION?

I realize it sounds silly, but I highly recommend trying it – if you didn’t already.

This week I am taking that activity a step further.

Review and Analyze.

As the adage goes: “The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”

Very few people actually INVEST the time into themselves to analyze their life, their activities, their focus. Even fewer make adjustments from what they find.

The next step in the activity is to look at the time tracking you’ve captured. Examine it. Whether it’s in a formal log or just scraps of paper you’ve collected.

Look at the tangible areas where you feel your time has not been utilized efficiently. But also pay attention to the gaps and think about what you were doing that had you so distracted that you couldn’t even write down your activities. I find my gaps in time tracking tend to occur at similar times each day – shortly after lunch, when the school bus comes, at the end of the day.

That gap, that distraction – was it good? Something positive and fulfilling? Something that made your soul sing and soar?

Or was it draining? Negative?

If the time you are spending is not providing you with positive results, then you need to determine if you will Accept It, Change It, or Leave It.

Of course, I’m not so naïve as to think or suggest that you will be able to “leave” all activities that are not fulfilling. We all have those tasks in life that we don’t like to do. But when you do your analysis, your examination, you should be able to see clearly where those fit into the larger picture and contribute to the whole.

If your activities are not moving you forward in life, they need to be examined and removed from your day whenever possible.

So today, if you already began tracking your time and activities then examine that. Put on an analytical hat and look for ways to improve.

If you didn’t track your time, try it. Just for today. Even if your life feels wonderful and focused and forward moving. It’s always a wonderful feeling to surprise yourself with how many ways you are investing in yourself and others. Well worth the activity. The investment.

In Love and Light ,

~Namaste