So much i want to do, but so little time

[JKuehl]

A big problem with which i deal with since i can think is this:
I want to read so many great books, i want to watch so many great movies, i wanto to play so many great computer games.

I want to spend time for my other hobbies, and want to spend time for hobbies i haven´t praticed in the last years.

I also want to meet up with my friends, phone or chat with them, experience so many things ( travelling, going to clubs, trying new sports like rock-climbing, taking salsa-classes, etc).

My problem is to handle this abundance. I´m not good in prioritizing my goals and plans, and often i think: "damn - i wanted to read xy today" or "i still haven´t tried out rock-climbing which i wanted for about half a year now".

How do YOU handle such abundance vs. limited time problems? Of course you can manage your time better to pack in more into it or try polyphasic sleep to gain some extra hours - but that won´t resolve the problem.

[Quetzal]

DITTO! I have exactly the same feelings, i get overwhelmed with the possibilities, and making decisions about what i really want to do becomes very difficult

It's like, what is it that makes us decide that we want to do something or have something?

[magnethy]

I think most of us feel we should be doing (a lot) more than we actually can accomplish in short terms. For me this includes advanced things like programming and learning instruments, language, etc. and more simple things like spending more time with my girlfriend, friends and family and playing sports. At times I'm afraid I'll someday regret never doing so many things.

My biggest problem is not having to little time. I've got loads of time when I don't do anything except watching something useless on TV. This time could, and should, be used to something more valuable.. It's all about energy and motivation. I've got a long way to go in this field, but I've recently started eating more healthy and trying not to get exhausted when working or studying.

[Scott]

I think that as we discover our purpose and raise our level of consciousness, we will learn to (consciously or subconsciously) tune out these common, everyday things which don't really have much to do with that purpose, and that ultimately we will come closer to fulfilling it.

On a more practical level, I must admit that I greatly suffer from this problem - oftentimes I don't even manage to finish my obligations, much less have time for the small pleasures. But I have found a few of Steve's articles helpful (I can't remember the specific ones right now). I watch TV less than an hour a month now, watch movies probably that same amount, and am slowly breaking my addiction to Internet news... but I'm still crunched for time.

We could use a Time Management PhD in here.

[sirkinm]

I have this problem a bit too. When I go full-throttle towards a goal, I can't help but think of the goals that I'm leaving behind. It reminds me of the concept of "opportunity cost" in economics.

[Milo Riano]

Everyone struggle with time but one should keep in mind that there is only so much you can do. You need to identify what is urgent as opposed to what is important. I have written about urgent vs important here.

It's a skill and discipline that takes so much to learn and master.

[fourthdan]

That's a pretty good article in the last post... it touches on a part of what Stephen Covey talks about in the 7 habits book.

According to him, we can divide our tasks into 4 categories:

1) Important and Urgent
2) Important and not urgent
3) not important and urgent
4) not important and not urgent

If you can audit the way you spend a day, and find out what percentages of time you're spending in which quadrant, you can actually get visibility on what it is that seems to clog your task list drain. The ideal scenario would be 80% on the important and not urgent, and not letting those tasks become urgent.

[FireLife]

I am following with the ideas already expressed in this thread about not urgent and important. You will find this in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

I am reading another book of his called First Things First which focuses on exactly what the original poster asked about. Check out the book, it is a great start! It really addresses what you are feeling, and I picked it up because I was feeling the same way. The book helps you to identify what matters to you, and what you can do to focus on ending the day with a satisfying feeling.

The book also leads you to many other books and resources, take a look!

[JKuehl]

Im reading Covey at the moment - but i still haven´t the "mindpower" to select my goals and tasks properly. Well - at least milorianos BLOG is another puzzle piece to my solution - thanks for that!

[NoelKuhl]

Originally Posted by JKuehl

How do YOU handle such abundance vs. limited time problems? Of course you can manage your time better to pack in more into it or try polyphasic sleep to gain some extra hours - but that won´t resolve the problem.

Start simple by planning out your days. 2 hours for this. 1 hour for that. Then stick religiously for at least the first week. Focusing on what you will miss out on won't serve you so focus on what you can be part of instead.

[Ilya]

I want to read so many great books, i want to watch so many great movies, i wanto to play so many great computer games.

I think, the key to solving this problem is to aquire a somewhat limiting belief that you just can't do everything during your physical lifetime.
For example, recently I've discovered TV shows that are run in US and can be ordered. I was lucky to stumble upon some good ones and watched them to keep up my English skills while having fun. And then I've discovered more shows, then more, and then I went to some site with a full list of tv shows currently running. I didn't imagine that there is so many! There is no way I can watch all of them. I would never come close. This is harsh, because I would like to. You know, I'm a knowledge guy. I would like to read all of Internet!
But we have to choose.
What helps is the improved Pareto rule. For those who do not know the Pareto or "20/80" rule states that in any human action 20 percent of effort produces 80 percent of results. This is based on statistics and is somewhat oversimplified, but still usefull. So in case of books after reading just 20% of written fiction you would know 80% about the literature. These 20% had a name, long before Pareto. They are called classics. If you read them, you would see that most of the rest of literature is secondary. You will start having deja-vus. The characters, the plots, would start to seem familiar and they are. The same is true for any body of knowledge.
You mention Covey with Urgent and Important matrix. When I was reading Covey, I skipped this topic altogether, because I've met it before. It was used by Eisenhower or Churchill during WWII. I might have missed Covey's personal take on the problem, but I would expect to be 80% efficient in using this principle.
But you can go even further. You can change this rule into 90/10 rule or even to 99/1. This is the same rule, but taken to the extreme. For example it is true for the wealth distribution. A very few people, who actually make up less then 10 percent of the world population own more then 90 percent of world wealth. When learning the language, knowing just a hundred of words would solve 99 percent of your communication needs.
This is amazing but true, because the recent information explosion was mainly noise which can be easily filtered out. It is easy to create junk, so it happens more often.

[Nico Kempe]

I think we all have this problem, I know I sure recognize it, also for the part where you have time and spend the whole day doing nothing.

One step I should really try RIGHT NOW! (kicking my own butt here ) is writing down just about everything that comes to mind about things I want to do, achieve and experience, untill I've got nothing new to write down anymore.

Then I think you could use the law of attraction too, let me elaborate.
For some months I've had the wish to get a new coat, but I always found excuses to not go out and search for one, or not much anyway.
So over the past few weeks I regularly stated my intention to the universe, I called upon the intention-manifestation technique hoping that would lead me to finally get that coat.
Yesterdaymorning my sister asked me to go to some market, and now I have that coat I wanted.

Also, if you write down all those wishes, review them on a regular basis, visualize them happening, and start over with a new list every week or so, you'll automatically use the intention-manifestation technique. Once you've done that the universe will help you to reach those goals, for example you might get that special offer for that product you want, or a study on a subject you want to master, or maybe you meet somebody who is a regular rock climber.

Law of attraction or not, I think the first step is to get you're wishes clear, so go and write it down, young grasshopper!

[songwriter]

I don't know if jokes are welcomed... but there's one about it.

"When you're young you have the will and the time but not the money. When you're middle age you have the will and the money but not the time. When you're old you have the time and the money, but not the will".



Besides this, there's not a thing I could do and I want to do that I don't do now.

[Andrew Brunelle]

Technology makes everything go faster, right? And since we have all this technology and efficiency, you would think it would free up a lot of time, which it does, but it's where you allot that time that will have you either overwhelmed or pretty relaxed. Back in the 1700s and 1800s, just a couple of hundred years away, people had plenty of time to do what they wanted to do because they weren't always getting interrupted by a cell phone or their favorite TV show. They didn't spend time on a Personal Development Forum because there was none. Here's some advice that I don't currently follow, but did try for a couple of weeks about six months ago. Give up technology for a day. One day. Give up computers, cell phones, reglar phones, automobiles, and everything else that you feel warrants an exculsion. You'll see how much spare time you have then. Now I'm not suggesting you completely get rid of them for life, but it will show you that some things you do are not necessary for your life, and you'll be able to use the time not doing those activities. this will allow you to free up time for other pursuits.

[Belle]

I use a process from Abe-Hicks called "segment intending". Before any specific task, I set an intention for it to go quickly and smoothly. I find that this helps me get projects done much more quickly than before, which frees up more time in my day.

I also cut out television (we don't have cable or satellite), which has worked wonders in terms up freeing up time, too.

[stockaholic]

Like Noel said, scheduling is important. I have taken to scheduling my days, being careful to leave time for miscellaneous tasks that pop up. I often found I was trying to do other things while playing with my kids (laundry, read a book, etc). Now, I schedule my time for work, time for commuting, time for eating, time for playing with the kids, time for watching Lost, and time for hobbies. It helps me focus on what I am doing since that is what I "should" be doing at that particular time.

[Andy]

I've had this problem too, and I realized it happened because I barely had any clarity whatsoever on what I actually wanted to do and never planned things out. I think that just learning about time management etc. as others have suggested can really let you see what you can do in what amount of time and then to structure your goals such that they actually are in accord with reality and not only a wish that never really gets realized.

[michael.shearer]

Though I haven't honed the art myself, I think many who lucid dream can accomplish many of the "day-to-day" goals in their sleep...or at minimum, you can use your sleep and dreams to accomplish more...which seems like what you are trying to get at.

I wish you all the best on your path to hone your time management skills with the infinite abundance of opportunity. You may like this site, Renaissance Souls.

Namaste.

Michael

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

Give up computers, cell phones, reglar phones, automobiles, and everything else that you feel warrants an exculsion. You'll see how much spare time you have then. Now I'm not suggesting you completely get rid of them for life, but it will show you that some things you do are not necessary for your life, and you'll be able to use the time not doing those activities. this will allow you to free up time for other pursuits.

I just finished reading an excellent book titled "Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology" by Eric Brende. He spent a little over a year with an Amish/Mennonite community to find out just how much technology is "enough." During which, he realized that a lot of the technologies that were created to help us save time, really ended up taking time away from us because it separated tasks. You'll have to read the book to see how he defends this view, but, overall I think he's right. Some technologies have stolen just as much of our time as others have helped give us. Finding balance is the key.

I agree with Andrew, try doing one of Steve's 30-day trials and give up some things such as TV and see if you have an increase in available time. I bet you'll definately see results.

[magi13]

Originally Posted by JKuehl

A big problem with which i deal with since i can think is this:
I want to read so many great books, i want to watch so many great movies, i wanto to play so many great computer games.

I want to spend time for my other hobbies, and want to spend time for hobbies i haven´t praticed in the last years.

I also want to meet up with my friends, phone or chat with them, experience so many things ( travelling, going to clubs, trying new sports like rock-climbing, taking salsa-classes, etc).

My problem is to handle this abundance. I´m not good in prioritizing my goals and plans, and often i think: "damn - i wanted to read xy today" or "i still haven´t tried out rock-climbing which i wanted for about half a year now".

How do YOU handle such abundance vs. limited time problems? Of course you can manage your time better to pack in more into it or try polyphasic sleep to gain some extra hours - but that won´t resolve the problem.

choose the things you wish to do. SInce you have a lot of things you'd want to achieve, just rank it according to difficulty and do the easiest ones first, it'll leave you time to grind with the hard ones.

Divide the things you'd like to achieve and take those one step at a time. Rank them and do them piece meal at a time.

Just do it and enjoy the unraveling of your journey and adventure

[bbdream8]

Originally Posted by JKuehl

A big problem with which i deal with since i can think is this:
I want to read so many great books, i want to watch so many great movies, i wanto to play so many great computer games.

I want to spend time for my other hobbies, and want to spend time for hobbies i haven´t praticed in the last years.

I also want to meet up with my friends, phone or chat with them, experience so many things ( travelling, going to clubs, trying new sports like rock-climbing, taking salsa-classes, etc).

My problem is to handle this abundance. I´m not good in prioritizing my goals and plans, and often i think: "damn - i wanted to read xy today" or "i still haven´t tried out rock-climbing which i wanted for about half a year now".

How do YOU handle such abundance vs. limited time problems? Of course you can manage your time better to pack in more into it or try polyphasic sleep to gain some extra hours - but that won´t resolve the problem.

Hi Kuehl,

This is a problem faced by many people due to the overwhelming amount of things that they want to do. I prefer to get one thing down at a time which really help to get more things done. With too many things in mind, it is hard to achieve them all. Tackling one of them at a time will be the way to go.

Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger