Tag Archives: time management

Time and technology

I had intended to post on Friday but other things got in the way of that intention so here goes on Monday.

I had commented to another blogger that I was not sure where last week had gone and just what I had to show for it. Upon further reflection I realized that technology had been a rather dominating theme during the week and technology can certainly eat up the hours without much being achieved.

A “lost” MRI report had caused some degree of anxiety on my behalf but someone else spent the hours chasing that and the good news was that the report was found. Relief all round.

I received an odd email on Tuesday night from our telephone/internet provider telling me we had exceeded our gigabyte package at further cost to us. This was a real puzzle as I had received an email the week before telling me that this company was doubling our package for no extra cost.

It was too late to call anyone on the 0800 number but I did go to their website to see what I could learn. Nothing! I spent quite some time searching around in the hope that the answer or an explanation could be found.

I spent time on a sketchy phone line the next morning being told that they had made a mistake and all was well. The new upsized package was ours and the cost the same! Great. I then asked for help to set up entry to my account and usage meter…..three phone calls later I still can’t do this. I’ve decided to abandon that fruitless exercise and simply enjoy more GBs to browse with and continue to refer to paper accounts.

A letter via snail mail that day bought the somewhat unsettling news that we are to be provided with a new smart electricity meter. This will be a digital device that gathers data remotely so that means our longstanding and very friendly meter reader will lose his job. I feel really sad about that.

I decided to ring the company the next day to check out the fine print that appeared in very small font at the bottom of the letter. I have my fingers crossed now that we don’t need an electrician to do extra work, at our cost, when this meter is installed. It seems unlikely according to the woman with whom I spoke.

Friday saw me wrestling with a petrol pump that did not seem to be working particularly well and some pretty indifferent customer service around that.

To help counteract all this techy frustration and time gobbling I returned to the Belmont Domain on Saturday and took some more photos of this beautiful spot.

This is a koru, showing its strength and life force, heading to the sunlight as a new frond on a lovely tree fern in the Domain. The koru is often used as a symbol of potential unfolding.

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Saturday Tip: 84,600

Imagine how you would feel if I told you that you had $84,600 that had to be used in some way in 24 hours!
What would you spend it on and how would you plan to spend it?

Some might choose to save it all for another time, others might invest some but spend some, others might simply go out and spend up large, others might sit down and list all the things they needed and then prioritise the spending, others might give it away.
There is no right or wrong way but it is an interesting tip to consider when you know that every 24 hours we have 84,600 seconds to make use of.
How will you spend that today? Let me know your ideas and plans!

Step by step

I found myself feeling hurried this morning with three or more pressing tasks to complete.   My brain was feeling hurried and scattered.  Good awareness on my part I thought.  A hurried brain and body can lead to accidents and feelings of stress……so what to do?   Firstly some big deep breaths.   Then a firm message to my brain that hurry was not needed and that one of the tasks could wait until later, or until another time.  A pause to feel my feet standing squarely on the floor and the strength of my legs holding me up, balanced and firm.

A bit of time management thinking around what is the priority here and that was to finish getting the meal into the slow cooker.

That done I could peg the washing out on the line and enjoy the warm sunshine, the amazingly calm atmosphere and the singing of a Tui.  Nice…..

Next came some self care as I sat down to enjoy a hot cup of coffee and a read of my emails…….brain and body going along at a much slower pace again.  It pays for me to take things step by step using awareness and attention to regain my equilibrium and an improved feeling of well being.

What steps do you take to achieve a more balanced and pleasant path through the many tasks of your day?

Sunday quote

I always enjoy this Time Management quote:  “I always thought that Time Management was tying mops to your feet so that when you get up to the bathroom at night, you can be accomplishing something.”  Annette Morgan, 1979.

I reminds me that I do not always have to be accomplishing something…..just being is enough for chunks of time:-)

Saturday tips

I am going to post “tips” on Saturday and a “quote” on Sunday……so I can keep my weekend time free for pursuits other than writing  longer blog posts.

Decluttering is on my agenda currently and so I dug into my time management resources and found the following “tips”:

The Four D’s:  

Do……………do something with this stuff

Delay……………until I can find a home elsewhere for this stuff

Delegate………….ask someone else to declutter their stuff

Dump………….to the local recycling station or into the bin

Use Your GUTS!

Give it away

Use it

Throw it away

Sell it

Good luck with getting organised, decluttering or managing your time more efficiently.  I’d be interested in any tips you have to clear clutter.