Thrusday's Time Tip: Organization vs. Spur of the Moment

It is now football season. Friday night high school football, Saturday Collage Games, Sunday NFL football, are all in full swing. Locker rooms are telling. One coach noted that the offensive line players, their lockers are neat and very tidy. The defensive players lockers are … chaotic, almost without fail. Interesting phenomenon. When you stop and look at things it does make some sense. The defense is reacting to what the offense does. The offense has a plan, a strategy, a way of doing things. Thus the players tend to have places for things and order. The defense reacts to what the offense is doing; their life is a bit more chaotic.

Up to now I’ve been blogging about the best use of time, values, and management tips. All of these are very important. Especially if you are trying to get organized, be efficient, or attempting to accomplish goals. We are planning our offense.

I want to throw something else out there for you to mull around. Don’t be so ridged that you can’t take an opportunity to stop and smell the flowers, to use an old metaphor. This is almost a complete contradiction to what we’ve been working towards. Chaotic elements, but that is what life always does: life is what happens when you are making other plans.

A few weeks ago I posted about a labor day weekend, The Snapshot. If you haven’t read it, please take a moment to follow the link and read, and leave a message. Sometimes we are so busy and working so hard to get things done that life passes us by. We find we miss out on some of the really important things.

So you may want to add some flexibility into all of your planning and managing. Someday the wind will be just right to go and fly a kite. Take a look at what you’ve got, rearrange things and take the moment to fly that kite. You’ll take some time to build memories. I am so grateful my wife and I decided to take a day and go to the beach. It was a wonderful day, and even more wonderful because of the tragic events that happened a week later. I am grateful that we took the time to go and have some fun. So if the urge strikes to fly a kite, run to the beach, go out for lunch, stop in and visit an old friend, or do anything else that “isn’t in the plans” let the plans go, rearrange, reschedule, take the time to do a spur of the moment whim.

Yes, make plans, manage, but be prepared to make changes, but try to focus on what matters most. When life is all said and done, I don’t think anyone will wish they spent more time at work, or more time on their projects. Family and friends are why we spend the hours at work and on projects. To earn the income to live life. Take the opportunities to make great memories.