If you noticed that water was running freely and for no reason from a faucet in your kitchen or bath would you turn it off? Sure. Why waste such a precious commodity when there are millions in the world without access to clean water?
You can’t create time… Just 168 hours per week for each of us. But you can budget time and eliminate waste in order to focus on what is important to you.
Check email less often if possible, not whenever an email arrives in my inbox.
Limit the amount of TV or movies I watch. Think about which movies I watch and the message they place in my mind. Limit social media time. Do others really need to know everything I am doing or thinking? In place of ten ‘likes’ consider sending one meaningful message to convey appreciation and encouragement.
Prioritize my activities. Actually apply the Big Rocks First illustration.
(Use search button to find this previous blog post.)
Make a recurring appointment to write an encouraging note or email three times a week.
Once a week, bring a loaf of bread, a plate of cookies, a meal, a mug full of tea bags to a friend, or stranger. Visit someone who is shut-in. You don’t need to know what to say. Simply listen.
Once a month invite someone you don’t normally associate with to your home for a desert or meal. . .
Once a year invite someone on a day trip with you, babysit for a couple who needs a night out, or pay for a meal or a couple of movie tickets, or an overnight ‘vacation.’
Bringing light to the world takes time and we’re not going to make any more of the stuff. Rather than stuffing more activity into your life, consider how a time budget can replace less valuable activities with ones that carry light to someone who is in a period of darkness. Imagine how much better you both will feel.
