Is this the way life is supposed to be? The obvious answer is 'no'. So why do so many of us find ourselves in this situation?

Lately, I've found myself living a much busier lifestyle than I could have imagined at the beginning of this year.  At this point in my year, I realize that I have to simplify my life.

This is the first post in a series about simplifying life.  You may be like me when you think to yourself "I need more time for me".  You may have also promised that you would "someday" reduce your work load and responsibility so that you can make time for the truly important things.

But, someday never arrives and you see the level of tasks and responsibilities increase and your free time decrease.  I've been in that situation many times.  This is when it is time to simplify life.

My So Called Life
I have been able to handle my busy schedule up until about a month ago. Things ran smoothly during the beginning of the year and I loved the busyness of my day.  I have a Presidential role in a Toastmasters International club, I lead a committee for my employer, I have several speaking engagements this year, as well as writing, mentoring and managing duties.

I was doing a great job of juggling and making it look easy until I caught a major cold 4 weeks ago.  It started with a tickle in my throat.  I had a sense that it was coming so I increased my intake of vitamin C, but it was too late.

The cold kept me out of commission for about 2 days.  I missed a half day at work and a few projects didn't get finished.  When I felt better, I decided to get right back to work.  I was amazed to find how far behind I fell after missing just 2 days.

 
The following week I averaged about 3 hours of sleep as I consistently worked to catch up.  No matter how much I worked it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I didn't realize until that week that the difference between a completely successful week and a total disaster was two days. 

My margin of error was razor thin.  It’s like living a life with no savings in the bank.  I felt as though I had no cushion of time that I could fall back on if I couldn't operate.  Even worse, what if I wanted a day to just do nothing or spend a few days with friends and family?  How far back would that put me?


What are you going to do with the time?

When we get too busy we often think of what we could be doing instead of what we are currently doing. The problem is when the time does become available; we seem to fill it with something else.  So in the end, you usually end up with the same amount of time but with something different to fill it. 

This is true in all parts of life.  Let’s say that your standard of living is based on a $30,000 salary.  You have a DVD player, a regular cell phone, and a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment and have a low margin of extra money for savings.  If your salary is raised to $35,000, you seemingly have an extra $5,000 per year for savings which would put you in a good financial spot; but only if you live as if you still made $30,000.

What tends to happen instead is that we increase our standard of living right along with our increase of income.  Instead of the DVD player, we switch to Blue Ray.  The cell phone turns into a Blackberry or iPhone and we upgrade to a 2/2.  So ultimately, we have the same margin of extra money.

The same is true with our time.  We can create more time but then turn around and allow it to be filled with seeming important things.  Since time is a currency that is being constantly spent, it is wise to know how it is going to be spent ahead of time.  I’ve decided to focus on the absolutely important things in my life that I have been missing out on with the extra time I am creating. Full article