Subtract & Add Value (Part 2)

In order to have time to pursue our true passions and invest in our most important relationships, we must subtract some of the distractions and time-wasters. No, I don’t advocate giving away your children or resigning from your job, but here are some of My Chosen Few suggestions to help decrease the burden associated with overcommitment:

Downsize: Reduce your responsibilities. Meet your family’s needs and then choose one or two passions in which you’re going to invest your skills and time. Perhaps that means serving on a committee for a non-profit or at church, spending time with a friend who needs your support, a commitment to improve your own health through exercise, or a flowerbed in your garden to overhaul. Whatever passion(s) you pick, make sure they bring you joy and make you feel worthwhile – that they really do add value to your life. It’s perfectly acceptable for your passions to change on a weekly or monthly basis. Just don’t overinvest yourself.

Delegate: There are some tasks that require your time and attention, whether in your professional role or as the spouse, parent or responsible adult in the relationship. However, there are many tasks that can be delegated to others or restructured so that your time is not vacuumed up into activities that could have growth or community value to someone else. Engage everyone in household tasks like laundry, teach your children to make their own lunches and take turns to prepare and cook meals and clean the kitchen.

Declutter: Simply looking at piles of papers, mounds of laundry and overflowing closets, drawers, file cabinets, and supply rooms creates feelings of anxiety and stress. The thought of tackling the clutter is overwhelming and hours are wasted sorting, organizing, cleaning and maintaining stuff that does not add any value to our lives. Try removing some clutter by completely clearing a table, desk or counter top and assess how looking at the clear, clean surface makes you feel. Now imagine your whole office or house was free of junk, unneeded papers and underused stuff and your surfaces were clear and ready to be used for projects, meals or work. Good time management means not having to waste precious minutes searching through a pile of papers for one important document or spending an afternoon moving boxes you haven’t opened in years to get to try to find the one box you know has your grandmother’s crystal bowl in it. Subtract clutter from your life – remove it, donate it, sell it, trash it, shred it… move on from it. Stuff doesn’t add value to your life; people and experiences do.

Dump: Adding value means letting go of negative and toxic relationships. It means relinquishing some control over tasks. It means releasing things that cause stress and waste time. It means dumping ideas that cause self-doubt and frustration and intentionally focusing your time on your chosen few relationships, priorities and passions.  So let go of gossip and dump drama – and stop comparing yourself to others. Refuse to allow yourself to get sucked into social media – take apps off your phone and only check it a couple of times a day. And dump the idea of being busy as akin to being productive and successful. Being busy is about having lots of things to do, not about getting anything done well or adding value to your life and others.