Paulitex

Note: I wrote this post a few weeks ago so the ‘this morning’ is a little outdated. I wanted to sit on it for awhile before publishing. In the meantime David posted another great and related post. Check it out.

I woke up this morning, dragged myself to class and discovered in my reader this post by David Hansson of 37signals. David tears apart the notion of “I just don’t have enough time (to do the things I want)”. It really hit home - I found myself agreeing with everything he wrote while simultaneously being its prototypical victim. This was, quite obviously, a conflict.

This excuse is particularly depressing when it comes from students. Oh, I have so many classes. Oh, I have so much home work. There’s simply no time to learn outside of school. Then you’re doing it wrong!
Never let your schooling interfere with your education, someone clever once said.

Zing. That someone clever was Mark Twain and, coincidentally enough, I happened across that quote just last night.

So I pondered this for a minute. Clearly I’m doing something. I’m busy. But I keep saying I don’t have enough time to do things I’d like, making myself the victim of my own scheduling. So what am I doing if it’s not what I want? And why? Maybe I don’t really know what I want? Maybe I need to be able to prioritize?

Take a look at this chart. I’m sure some of you have seen it before (I’ve come across it in the Stephen Covey books and the Randy Pausch time management lecture). What do you think would be the ideal distribution of your time between quadrants 1 to 4? 3:4:2:1? Now try to place your typical daily activities. it’s an interesting exercise, though admittedly broad.

When someone pulls the “not enough time” card, it’s because their quadrants 1 & 3 have taken over.

Prioritizing isn’t easy. In fact it’s really, really hard. To do it effectively, you have to know yourself and where you’re going. This is tough. This takes time.

The crowding at the top of my priority list was a direct result of my unwillingness to commit to a path: Do I want to go to grad school (prioritize grades) or do I want to work in industry (prioritize internships and side projects)? Or do I want to start a company (prioritize planning and networking)? Ironically enough, I was too busy to know. So I did all three. Quadrant 1 became my only quadrant. And that made me miserable.

Both Pausch and Covey recommend focusing on quadrant 2, the one most likely to be neglected. I agree, so I’m shifting focus starting now. For me, blogging (or any kind of reflective writing) is quadrant 2. And prioritizing, that’s quadrant 2 as well.

All taken, David’s post was a welcomed reminder. It reminded me how often discontent stems from the unnoticed cavities in our personal agency - thoughts that our lives are at the will of fate, scheduling, other people, society, or anything other than ourselves. Your life is yours. Take responsibility, know that you are in control, fill these cavities. It is nothing less than stealing back your own happiness.