I’m smitten with this article on The Busy Person’s Lies. I keep thinking about it. Sometimes I’m affirmed, sometimes condemned, but more often it fills me with a delightful sense of wonder: what if I’ve really got time?
I have this somewhat irrational belief that I do have time. It’s something often taken by faith rather than sight, but it’s there, both in my daydreams and my day-to-day life. Of course, it’s also in Ecclesiastes, if you look at it that way. (Ecclesiastes is fantastic, by the way, in case it’s been a while since you’ve read it.)
Anyway, the following article talks about how our minds deceive us, particularly by emphasizing negatives and overemphasizing the amount we work. (Seriously, to me this screams original sin and our fallen drive to save ourselves by any selfish means possible, even if it means working for it.)
Got time to read it? It may be a game changer that allows you to write more guilt-free.
With four kids and a full-time job, time is precious. But it’s also plentiful.
Source: The Busy Person’s Lies – The New York Times
I won’t lie. I think there’s another piece of personal advice you should hear before you jump into writing for hours. Consider the people in your lives and first make sure they can see they are a priority in how you spend you time.
Time management is about priorities as well as time. And that’s ok. But if your schedule—that is, the implementation of your new-found free time—seems in any way to belittle someone, it’s going to cause time-consuming and ever-expanding trouble.
So, schedule in time to write! But leave yourself actual time to prepare for the others in your life, whether that translates into filing the mail before it’s a stack a foot tall, sauteing onion in butter so it seems like supper is more than a distant dream., or clearing off the table or entryway so a mess is not the first thing home-comers see.
One reason I feel like I’m a good person to encourage Lutherans to write is simply because I’ve managed it against tall time-constraining odds. But you know what? I’ve got time! Maybe not a lot to spare, but enough for periodic projects and personal development. Maybe it helps that typing calms me, allowing my elective work to multitask as hobby, self-counseling, and eye-hand-coordinating play, but I wish all that goodness for you, too!
May you be busy with the things and people you love rather than the lies your brain may be telling yourself!