How About Them Bears?!

Self-awareness is foundational to success. This is true for most things and certainly true for time management. What does time mean to you? What is the value of your time? Are you spending your time doing the things that matter most to you? How do you manage your time? What do you prioritize? How well do you focus? Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!

Being an overthinker, these questions often rattle around in my head, gaining speed and altitude, building like a snowball, being splatted by small, projectile, random thoughts, until I get so overwhelmed that I pack up and call it a day. Self-awareness questions easily become lions and tigers and bears… unless you look at them one “beast” at a time.

Struggling with time management may feel like dealing with an untamed lion. Both can result in chaos, wasted resources, and sometimes even danger. Without time management we may experience disorganization, procrastination, and a lack of control over our schedules. This can result in missed deadlines, increased stress, and decreased productivity. Similarly, an untamed lion can pose a threat to individuals and their environment, and its untamed behavior can lead to destruction and wasted resources.

How are you spending your time? Do you spend time doing the things that matter most to you? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed? Here’s the lion.  Hmm. What if we gave the lion food? Then it wouldn’t be so interested in eating us. Here’s some “food” for thought: What are the things that matter the most to you?

Now let’s add a lion trainer to the mix.  Both time management techniques and taming a lion involve the process of taking control and making the best use of a valuable resource. Lion trainers are very observant, they get to know the lion they work with very well. Taming a lion requires one to understand the behavior and nature of the lion and develop a strategy to approach it and manage it effectively.

So, how ARE you spending your time? What are your time behaviors? Here’s a helpful tool. Ready? Introducing: The Time Log! A daily time log allows us to track how we are spending our time and identify areas where we can improve our time management. In a similar manner, lion training involves keeping a record of the lion’s progress and behaviors to understand its strengths and weaknesses and develop a training plan that works best for it.

Both time management and lion training require discipline, consistency, and a willingness to adapt and make changes as needed. By regularly reviewing a daily time log, you can adjust your time management strategies, leading to improved productivity. In lion training, regularly monitoring progress and making changes to the training plan helps to reach the desired outcome of a well-trained lion.

Collecting the data and analyzing it to determine whether or not we are giving enough time to the things that matter most can be an illuminating experience. Problem solved!

So, how about them bears?!

Have you or your teens used time logs? If not, give them a try. Share your experiences, thoughts, and ideas below.

Also, please contact me with any questions or for more information.