Time audits
I started a social media poetry account last year. It’s totally anonymous and its sole purpose was to force myself to create shorter, more succinct sentences and practice graphic design. Technically, by Instagram standards, it’s probably considered doing well(in my opinion, looks more like a wild all over the place map). Within a few months, I started fretting that I needed to spend time making that account “better”.
I think often, our vision can perish a bit. What we know in our very bones to be true gets distracted and clouded by what those around us are doing. That poetry account? It was intended so I could learn and practice two distinct lessons-but I didn’t keep its purpose purposed. I got distracted left and right by other poets and the beautiful designs they were creating. I still keep posting once a week, but now I put blinders on what other accounts are doing.
I think often our vision can perish a bit.
We fear uphill climbs.
We shutter at the thought of swimming upstream against the currents. Our vision can embrace our hearts with what we know to be true, but fear will try to take a pickaxe to vision and let fog drift into the midst.
Maybe you’re not one to totally follow the crowd, but you stay neutral and just float along. But, even in neutral, we will coast either forward or backward. We become stagnated and stunned at where we’ve arrived. Our vision, well, feels further and further away-it aches.
….but I need to back up a bit, to share how I got here, wanting to be purposeful in my approach to living. To work smarter, not harder.
Ever wondered if you are giving your days away? Like, maybe not on purpose, but has society convinced you that you need to do more, more, more? Or that you deserve to indulge your days away? Or that we’re “so advanced as a society” that luxury is deserved? Has the voice in your head told you to work to the bone to earn your worth or to sit and chill for days on end? Has your gut ached knowing you’re called to something different that what you currently do?
That’s where I sat in 2010, with all of that…I listened to those around me, copied what others were doing, even though my mama gut was screaming I needed to be living different from what I was doing…I chose to ignore it. I kept living on a perpetual hamster wheel until I literally collapsed at work. Unable to physically walk almost three days, I blankly stared at the internet, feeling sorry for myself, angry at the self-induced circumstances, and scrolled upon a blog post about auditing time-that how you spend your days(with or without purpose) ultimately will become the making of your life. I sobbed, knowing that ultimately, my physical collapse was of my own doing. And after my pity party was done, I did audit my time-and have done so multiple times-and found that while I was living wide open, working circles around others and embarrassingly proud of that, it was a superficial level living. I craved a deeper richer life, but wasn’t actually living that way. By slowing down and being intentional with where I spent my time, not only did I end up being more productive long term, most importantly I had more time for needed rest. More time to be fully present for my family and myself. More time to cultivate joy over surface level happy. More depth in choice spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
Auditing your time may seem tedious(because the first time will likely feel tedious), but long term you will be ever grateful that you gifted yourself this honest glimpse of how you are living your days.
Going against the grain is hard, just plain hard. But-unmet vision aches unmistakably deep.
It can feel strange, going against the flow, making choices that look and feel different. We feel like weirdos. There aren’t parties and celebrations and parades held for weirdos. And in our bones, we know that we know, this world tends to view us as total weirdos if we go against the grain, when we climb the mountains others ignore, when we swim upstream despite oh so many schools of fish crashing into our sides. And it aches.
And we’re left with a choice.
A pivot.
A crossroad.
Sometimes a physical collapse on our face.
And we’re left with a choice. A pivot. A crossroad. Sometimes a physical collapse on our face.
Vision versus ache. Pause. In the pause, when the vision bubbles to the surface, I beg you to choose the vision.
Pause. Pivot. Choose. Turn. Lean in.
*** FREE instant access printable with included instructions can be found by clicking above photo***
Practical takeaway:
Embracing who God has called you to be feels awkward and against the flow. It can feel downright weird at first. Weirdos change the world-God calls often on weirdos-weirdos invent and transform-weirdos really, truthfully down in their bones already know this truth though: God-given vision requires God-given journeys. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll see areas in your time audit that you’re giving away your days. You’re letting the vision slip away. You’ll release the choices that are wasting your days away. You now have space to pursue passions and God-given talents and pursuits, the very things that will feel life breathing, because they are. These are the choices that can change the vapor of this world we live in. How you spend your days can change this world.
"You need focus to become exceptional at anything.
Massive amounts of time and energy are wasted optimizing things that should be left undone.
You have to be great at saying no."
"A gift you can give yourself right now:
Stop what you're doing. Close your eyes.
For the next 60 seconds, just breathe."
—James Clear
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” -J.R.R. Tolkien
Never forget,
every moment,
every breath is a privilege.
Treat it accordingly.
Link to TIME AUDIT printable and instructions
For further reading about time audits, you might enjoy pursuing this blog post(outside link).
