Creating Time

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Wanting more time seems to a common theme among writers, and probably everybody else as well. All the comments on my last post were about wanting more time.

I found this awesome post by Michael Hyatt on creating time.

Stephen Covey tells the story in First Things First of attending a seminar, in which the instructor pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar. He sat it on the table next to some fist-sized rocks.

“How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?” he asked.The students made various guesses. The instructor then proceeded to fill the jar with the rocks. It looked like it was full. He asked the class, “Is this jar full?” Everyone looked at the jar and agreed that it was indeed full.

He then reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He then dumped the gravel into the jar. The gravel went in between all the little places left by the big rocks.

Then he grinned and once more asked, “Is the jar full?” By this time, the class was on to him. “Probably not,” several of the students said.

“Good!” he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He poured it into the jar. It went into all the spaces left by the big rocks and the gravel. Again, he asked the class, “Is this jar full?”

“No,” the class shouted.

He said, “Good!” He then grabbed a pitcher of water and poured almost a quart of water into the jar. Then he said, “What’s the point?”

Someone said, “If you really work at it, you can always squeeze more stuff into your life.”

“No,” the instructor responded. “That’s not the point. The point is this: if you hadn’t put these big rocks in first, would you ever have gotten any of them in?”

I would make an additional point. The big rocks are a metaphor for the important stuff. If you don’t make room for the important stuff, it will be overwhelmed by the less important stuff." Michael Hyatt - Creating an Annual Time Block

Hyatt then goes on to say how he blocks out his year so that his important stuff gets scheduled. He says, "Make sure you schedule time for the things that are important to you. If you don’t, you will find yourself scrambling to find time for the things that are important. If you are not careful, you will wake up one day and discover that you have spent your life living for other people’s priorities."

Only I'm thinking...

SCHEDULE YOUR DAY -- Don't let your writing time get lost in all the other things you need to squeeze into your day. The rest of time will take care of itself.

What Keeps Me Going - Starting Over #5

WHEN I'M TEMPTED TO QUIT?

I so totally stole this title from Michael Hyatt's blog posted Friday July 31. It was a great blog with a great question that started me thinking. [Michael Hyatt]

What keeps you going when you want to quit? I fight this malady all the time. Sometimes its too hard to get up. It's too hard to go to the gym. It's too hard to bypass the ice cream and eat the salad. It's too hard to park my rear in the chair and work on the current scene. And lately it's too hard to shut off all the nifty internet sites like, myspace, facebook and now the really addictive Twitter. (So pulled in by the twittering of TweetDeck. Who knew!)

Like Michael Hyatt says, "Everything important requires work. Hard work. And sometimes there is a long arc between the dream and it’s realization. That is where the work and the transformation occur.

In my experience, the thing that keeps me going is answering this question, “Why am I doing this?” I then try to remember the dream. “Why I am doing this hard thing that I am doing.” I try to get connected to the original vision, because that keeps me going when the going gets tough."

And sometimes even the dream needs a little help. Family, friends and fellow writers are valuable supports. I have several. If I list them, I'm certain to leave somebody out. So just know you are very appreciated.... all of you.