Time on my hands

Most days come to an end without having been able to do or accomplish all that I wished. Sound familiar? So, are we short on time? Do we need more time? Well, here's a dose of the obvious: we all get 168 hours per week, no more, no less. Neither President Obama, Billy Graham, Bill Gates, my boss, nor my next door neighbor gets any more or less than I do. So, the question is not "where can I find more time?"... (That's actually an absurdity...the 168 hours is fixed, you can't shorten or lengthen it.)...but, "how can I structure those hours to most effectively accomplish my goals?"

I just started reading Laura Vanderkam's book, "168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think." (Again, an absurdity...she means, "you can more effectively use the time you have"). So far, I've learned, 1) My time is my own; controlling how I use it is up to me. 2) Many people are unaware of that huge, nebulous block of time that we invest in activities that are hard to monitor, use up a lot of time without realizing it, and don't make much of a contribution to our goals. One example...an internet search that takes me down long rabbits trails only loosely connected to my original purpose. Next thing I know, time spent with little or nothing to show for it.

This week I'm going to use my 168 hours to....

• Sleep!
• Work
• Serve my wife and family
• Enjoy my kids
• Read and think
• Post a few blog entries....

How about you and your 168?