Time.

I’m a laid back person. I much prefer dreaming to doing. There is a place for that but then there are the times things need doing.

Funny thing about time. It is a lot similar to money. If you don’t keep track of it, you can easily lose it. Time is also a resource given to us just like finances. It is something we need to utilise to the best of our abilities.

Now if your not someone who likes to plan every hour of your day or live according to a schedule this may seem hard. Just like the person who doesn’t budget his money.

The surprising thing I’ve found that you need most is flexibility. Strange isn’t it. That and sand timers. Late last night with my plans to plan and teach my children to steward their time I ordered timers. Which arrived in less than 24hrs thanks to Amazon.

This morning I managed to get one boy to make a clock with me. I got the idea of visualising their time with these easy to make clocks.

He wanted to use Roman Numerals. I kept looking at my proposed schedule but the clock on the wall kept moving too fast. Unexpected things happened. Washing to hang up. Kitchen to clean. Boys disappearing. French exams.

At the end of the day I barely kept to one thing in the time slot I had for it. I still have one boy who didn’t make his clock. But I do have things I wouldn’t have had without my planned schedule.

For instance – Did a craft with youngest boy. Kept game time to an hour. Explained time management to boys. Had everyone do their chores. Also had everyone help with dinner and be involved in cleaning afterwards. Planted a rose cutting.

I even wrote two scenes in my new novel. Wow. I did more with my time. Even though it felt like I wasn’t effective. I didn’t keep to the plan.

BUT the plan helped me focus and get more done. The trick is flexibility. It doesn’t work out the way you plan most of the time but that isn’t the important bit.

The important bit is planning to steward your time. Setting some goals and things to focus on and then simply try within the scope of your day to do it. I even washed two loads of washing today. For me that’s a lot.

So make a plan but hold it loosely. Don’t get stressed if the clock is too fast. Enjoy the moments. Take time to sort out an upset child. That takes a lot of time sometimes. But the schedule is your servant. Connection is your priority. And time is yours to use wisely.