Time Management

A friend of mine was saying how crazy busy he was, how he didn't have time to workout or go to meetings.

"How much time do you spend watching television and playing video games?" I asked. He gave me a funny look and didn't answer. He knew I'd busted his game, eliminated his excuses for not doing what he claims he wants to do.

We all share the same 60 minutes an hour, the same 24 hours a day. What we do with that time is our choice. And I'm not one to say we should go to this many meetings, start a workout program, or take a night class. I don't care what people do with their time. My point is if we have a goal we must make a commitment, then make an appointment with ourselves to do it. Lamenting about lack of time doesn't solve the problem. Those who claim they don't have enough time need to sort through their lives and see where they have a chunk of time where they do nothing useful. While watching television, playing video games, or hanging out with friends may be how you want to spend your time - that's the first place we should look if we say we don't have time to accomplish out goals.

The way I've gotten things done since I got sober is by a routine. The first hour of my day – starting at 4:30 AM – is allotted to some type of exercise program, six days a week. After that I write for up to an hour. After that it's breakfast, then to the office. In the afternoon I take a break for an hour to an hour and half. A couple of evenings a week I run aftercare groups. So when do I have time to do anything spontaneous? There's a lot of time to do other things, read, go to movies, go to dinner, watch TV, play games on my iPhone. The point is, that I have a solid core of things I do on a regular basis whenever I feel like doing them or not.

We just need to figure out what's important and follow through.