From the President

by Kit Brown, STC-SRC president

At the February meeting, Johnna Johnson spoke about time management. Even though I've been through several Franklin-Covey classes, such presentations always provide great suggestions and reminders that we need to build time to just BE into our day. It's something that I know I tend to forget in my frenetic race to DO—whether it's meeting a client, doing volunteer work, cleaning the house, etc. Lately, it seems that every second of every day is taken up with some commitment or activity—to the point that the "tacos are falling off my plate" as one friend puts it. This column is a perfect example—Jeff has reminded me at least twice about it, and I even sat down to do it once, but got a phone call or other distraction and completely forgot about it. So, the time management class was a good reminder that I needed to slow down, breathe, and maybe just maybe even learn to say NO (yeah right!).

For some reason, I resist the idea of scheduling my play time in—seems too structured and so, well—not spontaneous. But, it dawned on me while Johnna was talking that I've already forgotten the lessons learned during my sabbatical about taking the time for the things that matter. Most of the crap on my to-do list is just that-administrivia "required" for living. In most cases, no one will die or starve to death if something doesn't get done. And, even though I like my work, it's ultimately just a way to take care of the basic needs (like food and shelter) so that I can enjoy my life.

As luck would have it, I received an unexpected hiatus from one of my projects last week, so instead of stressing about it, I'm going to do the following (not necessarily in this order):

Hopefully, by the time my contract restarts, I will feel a bit rejuvenated and can maintain the time in my schedule for the important things.

I encourage you to take time in the next month to identify 3 things that you've been meaning to do or that you have always wanted to do, and schedule them in. You'll be glad you did.