I’ll start by saying that it blows my mind to know that we all have the same hours in a day—and while it sounds obvious, what impresses me is how each of us uses them in such a UNIQUE way! And as a result, that creates certain outcomes and ultimately shapes what becomes your LIFE!
I feel that when it comes to time, it all comes down to desire, planning, and mainly the EXECUTION of what we decide to do with it—so that it MAKES SENSE TO US.
Going back a bit to the idea that I see life better from the perspective of exercise :D I confirm again that we need to find our own UNIQUE RHYTHM/PACE—the one we want to move at—considering:
- The goals we set for ourselves
- The tools we have
- The tools we need to acquire
- Embracing fear and discomfort, and simply taking action accordingly!
It’s extremely important to consider and evaluate the STAGE we’re in, so that we can ensure we are as REALISTIC AS POSSIBLE with the facts—and work from there...
What do I mean by this? I mean that organizing and managing your time is not the same when you are:
- Young, a student, single
- A parent, working, married
- A woman, an entrepreneur, with a partner
Each situation we find ourselves in brings with it a different type of time management and availability for actions and organization. And why is it important to know this?
Because from what I’ve learned so far, there’s a fine line between:
EFFICIENCY, ORGANIZATION, ACTION
and
REALITY, SITUATIONS, REACTION
And if we understand that line and try to navigate it as best we can, I think we can create a better dynamic for organizing time—without creating IDEALIZATIONS or systems that are too complex to maintain because they don’t align with the stage we’re in. Here’s my example:
As a child, I had the FORTUNE of having a mom and grandparents who cared for me in every way, so I could fully enjoy and live my childhood to the MAX!!! BUT, as a child, of course, I was dependent on how ADULTS managed my time. Still, I was able to organize the little I could in ways I liked best—driven mainly by the natural desire of any child—doing more of what made me happy:
- Being with myself (as an only child at the time), being with my family and friends, playing sports, parties, etc.
Then came adolescence—the stage of change and personal organization—where I started deciding more about my own time. A sense of responsibility crept in, and so the dynamic had to change. I had to pay more attention to other activities and dedicate time differently. My schedule shifted, but I tried hard to maintain the basics:
- Being with myself, family, friends, sports—and adding more study, parties, love, etc.
Then came college—what I’ll call pre-adulthood—where I experienced exchange programs abroad. I entered a stage where I had to reconfigure things again and choose how I wanted to organize my time and priorities. Now, it was all up to me! And with that came new realities: being away from family and longtime friends, but...
- Meeting new friends, continuing exercise, starting to consider the money factor (expenses) and how to generate income, still wanting to explore love, enjoy parties, and take on new responsibilities like cooking, cleaning, organizing—not just actions but personal spaces too. And all of this RADICALLY shifted the time equation...
AS THEY SAY: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY.
Later, as an ADULT, I got married and entered the official WORK stage, which meant reformatting my personal time graph again. NOW I HAD COMPLETE CONTROL AND RESPONSIBILITY OVER MY TIME—but the graph became collaborative, haha. Meaning, it wasn’t just MY TIME and MY ACTIONS and what made ME happy. Now came an even more interesting and necessary change—one that isn’t always comfortable but is worth breaking the comfort zone for: realizing that not all my AVAILABLE TIME should only be dedicated to situations, actions, or people that bring me personal pleasure. I understood that with DECISION and responsibility, I could maintain the basics:
- Being with myself, with family and friends, exercising, working, managing the home, and, of course, keeping some fun alive.
But this adventure—these changes and reformatting of time management and collaboration—was only a warm-up, a BASIC exercise where we set the foundations to LEVEL UP. And now, in our case, we made the decision and received the gift of becoming PARENTS!! And WOW—
Now we enter the MASTER LEVEL of time collaboration and organization, creating functional dynamics to help us balance our lives as best as possible. NOW THE DECISION GRAPH SPLITS INTO THREE, and we do our best to maintain not only personal foundations and those of my partner, but now mainly those of our little blessing!
- Time for family, friends, work, and home dynamics stays and even grows. BUT! Naturally, some things like parties and personal desires—such as exercise and personal space in my case—get reduced or thrown off balance.
But it’s RIGHT HERE that we need to UNDERSTAND, become aware, and act in the face of CONSTANT and inevitable CHANGE!! And remind ourselves that NONE OF THESE STAGES LAST FOREVER!! That’s what makes life FUN AND INTERESTING!! So, it’s time to truly LIVE—and, therefore, choose to ENJOY this movement—playing with and rearranging what I call “blocks” in whatever way is necessary to stay in SYNC with myself, my partner, and my children!! We keep working on not letting go of the basics—family, exercise, etc.—but what changes MOST is the amount of time dedicated to each part.
Example of my blocks in the past (not my best version):
- MY KIDS
- WORK
- MY HUSBAND
- OTHERS
- ME
Versus now:
- ME
- MY PARTNER
- MY KIDS
- OUR WORK
ETC…
So, I ask you:
- Do you know what stage you’re in?
- Do you know what stage you want to be in? (Because age is just a number :D)
- What are your non-negotiable actions or foundations, no matter the stage?
- What are your blocks, and how do you have them arranged?