Do you value time as one of your most precious commodities? Do you find 
that there are times when all you can think about is the time you either do or don’t have? Do you consider yourself a good manager of time? What does it even mean to you to be a good manager of time?
I recently met a young man who had graduated from a Licensed Practical Nursing program nearly two years ago. Unfortunately, he has yet to pass the state licensure exam, even after 4 attempts. He contacted me in desperation, asking if I would agree to tutor him. After a few phone conversations and an assessment of his learning needs, I agreed.
Since he planned to take the exam again in just a couple of months, we agreed to meet twice a week for 6 weeks. The schedule was planned for Wednesday evenings and early Sunday mornings in 3-hour sessions. I was originally pretty excited for the opportunity to assist. Just during a few conversations with this young guy, I could sense his sincerity and his willingness to do what he had to do to succeed. He was just the type of student I love to teach, eager to learn and willing to work.
As the time for us to begin started getting close, I noticed my feelings about the situation beginning to change. I completely lost focus of the goals behind meeting with the young man and began focusing exclusively on the time factors associated with our agreement. Anxiety started to creep in. My first and most significant concern was agreeing to meet on early Sunday mornings. I’m not even a morning person, why would I agree to meet anybody for any reason, if it meant waking up early on one of the only two days I had to sleep in. I was also concerned about meeting twice a week for a total of 6 hours per week. How in the world did I think I had 6 hours per week to spare, what about all the other things on my list of things to get done in a week. Finally, although I had constructed a week by week outline for our sessions, I started to worry that I may not have enough material for 3 whole hours per session.
The night before our first session, I was actually in a state of dread, regretting that I had ever agreed to tutor him. I remember saying to my son “I should have just referred him to someone else”.
The day of our first session arrived. I was 30 minutes early for our 7 am session and feeling quite anxious. When he arrived we exchanged greetings, he thanked me for my willingness to help and we began. Before I knew it our session had ended, I was in disbelief that 3 hours had gone by so quickly. I could have gone on for another 3 hours without hesitation, in fact, I would have been delighted to do so.
The thing is, I really do love teaching, it’s what I am here (on this planet) to do. When I’m standing in an auditorium giving a lecture, I never worry about the time, I just do what I do and time takes care of itself. When I’m at a hospital teaching students at the bedside, before I know it the clinical day is over. The session with this young man held true to that same theory. When spending time engaged in what I love, concerns about time are non-existent. Getting up early on Sunday mornings, staying out a little later on Wednesday evenings and spending 3 hours per session, 6 hours per week doing anything that I love is the absolute best use of my time.
On my way home from the session, I could only laugh at all the anxiety I had subjected myself to for the entire week before that first session. Clearly, this wasn’t the only time I’ve found myself anxious and obsessing over time, I actually do it quite often. My thoughts lead me to a bit of reflection about time, how valuable it is, and what managing time really means to me.
We each have a certain amount of time to experience life on this planet, so how we spend that time is indeed important. In the grand scheme of things, our time here is relatively short and there really is a lot to see and do. We know what we love, we each have things we want to do, and places we want to go. If in planning the activities of your daily life, you don’t plan at least some activities you love, then quite frankly you have not managed your time well at all.
Many people may consider themselves good time managers based on how many tasks they complete within a certain span of time. People don’t typically consider how enjoyable those tasks may or may not be. If they get it all done, then they consider themselves good managers of time. Of course, this type of time management has its benefits, but it is also extremely important to manage time with an ultimate goal of spending more time doing what we love. Our time here on earth is precious and limited, completing tasks might make us functional in life but doing what we love makes us fabulous at life!
Peace, Love, Blessings, & Continued Learning!
