Why Time Management Is So Much More Than Time Management
“Time has a wonderful way of showing us what matters.” – Margaret Peters
This morning, as I dropped my daughter off at preschool, the parking lot was noticeably busier than usual. I started to wonder why as I drove through the parking lot looking for an open space. Then, as I observed everyone walking into the school and upon entering her classroom, I remembered why. It was Grandparents Day.
Walking through the doors of her classroom, I saw her classmates’ grandparents observing the Montessori work of their respective grandchildren. They were smiling, laughing, talking with their grandchildren, and the preschool teachers, and enjoying themselves. The classroom was buzzing. But when I looked at my daughter, who became very quiet, I immediately sensed she was overwhelmed with the amount of the people there and all of the unfamiliar faces. I noticed her eyes tearing up slightly, and sensed that she was also overwhelmed by the fact that she was one of the only children in the classroom whose grandparents were not there.
Driving out of the parking lot I got very emotional. I started thinking about her being one of the only children in her class who did not have a grandparent there with her that morning. I felt her sadness and her overwhelm. A wave of thoughts about my mom’s recent passing flooded my brain. Thoughts about her other grandparents not being there, none of whom live in close proximity, also flooded me. I started thinking about my infant son, who would also be faced in a couple of years with the same scenario flooded me.
But then, I started to think about my coaching tools and how they have helped me cope with loss and manage my time better than I ever have in the last two years. I thought about the fact that my coaching tools and deciding to purposefully launch my coaching practice when I did allowed me (and my kids) to spend the extra time with my mom during her last days. I started thinking about the work that I do on a daily basis with clients and how important time management is to the big picture of their lives. I thought about one of my client conversations from the day before and a question I had asked her: “If you had only 24 hours left to live, how would you spend those 24 hours?”.
When we start to think about time management beyond how to accomplish all of our tasks on any given day, or within our eight hours (or more) of work, we start to really see the value of every hour we have. Not only does this allow us to be much more intentional and purposeful in how we use the precious time that we do have, it also gives us more time than we ever thought.
If you’d like to learn how you too can get more time and be more purposeful in your life, I’d love to help. Schedule a complimentary 20-minute strategy session here: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=13605969&appointmentType=6136068
I look forward to helping you live a more intentional and purposeful life!
Amanda
