Life Hack No. 31 - Don't Flame Out
I have on good authority that I place a high value on time. I also don't respond well (as a communication style with me) to people who forget or lose things, are disorganized or messy, or confuse or distract my mind from business.
For me, many of these things are something I consider to be a strength. No matter what our relationship is, I have experienced some people's reactions where they don't exactly know how to communicate with me because I haven't allowed or offered them space or time to talk about something that is important, pressing, personal, or even funny to them. I have written before that I am a straight shooter. My natural inclination is to get down to brass tacks... quickly.
This doesn't work for everyone and sometimes it doesn't work (at all) for me. I haven't always been this way, but I have been this way for quite a while. It doesn't mean that I think I have all the answers. Rather, I think it means that I am bold enough to ask dumb questions and state unpopular opinions.
It also means that I am hypervigilant about my time. I often write on this because it is a core fabric of my being. I hate having my time wasted and I hate wasting other people's time. I also voice openly when I feel as though my time is being wasted.
I am pretty sure that this attribute is with me now for the long haul. Even when I am old and I end up spending a disproportionate amount of time by myself.
I have seen some graphs lately that illustrate how one spends her time as the years go by. I am somewhat terrified by the amount of time that I will spend by myself in the future, but I believe that I have a good while to prepare myself for that phase of my life and/or take active measures to reduce that time. But in a meaningful way. Just as I was never a fan of office "face time" when I was at the early stages of my career, I doubt that I will subscribe to low value in-person "face time" with friends, acquaintances, or family when I am older.
The photo with this article shows several candles that my godparents gave me for Christmases -- starting possibly as long as 30 years ago. I have never set any of them on fire because they are so special to me. They also -- as far as I am concerned -- provide me with sustained and higher value as decor than they would have had I decided to light them and watch them burn.
When I looked at them today, I started to think about "burn" and the many, many ways that word has very different meanings. In terms of time -- my time or your time -- decide when and whether you want to light you candle or whether you want to light it at all. When you light it, it might change, become smaller, take a toll, or even disappear if it burns to the ground.
So, my life hack today is to be deliberate, if not hypervigilant, about how you use ALL YOUR TIME. Not just at work, home, school, training, or on your own. Maybe there are different values for different uses of time. But as long as I have been around, there are 60 seconds in every minute, sixty minutes in every hour, and 24 hours in every day. My advice to you... use them wisely so you don't flame out.