Time is this fleeting thing.\u00a0 We all have the same amount as everyone else and nothing we do can make it multiply.\u00a0 There are a multitude of ways to approach handling your time \u2013 from those that encourage people to put all tasks into your calendar or to base your tasks on your current availability of context, time, energy, and priority.\u00a0 I\u2019m certainly one that prefers the latter approach since if I fill my calendar with tasks, I will simply avoid doing anything in that slot.<\/p>\n
You could even say that I\u2019ve taken that idea of choosing tasks based on context, time, energy, and priority and put my own personal spin on it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve even given it a fun name: \u201cWhim time.\u201d\u00a0 This term might even sound like an oxymoron, how can those two words fit together?\u00a0 Whim is defined as \u2013 \u201ca capricious or eccentric and often sudden idea or turn of the mind: fancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
For me, \u201cwhim time\u201d is when I listen to myself about what I feel like doing \u2013 this can be productive or it can be time for rejuvenating.\u00a0 It\u2019s about paying attention to my mood and using that to help determine what I will work on.\u00a0 For instance, there is something about making phone calls \u2013 to search out speakers for the support group, or following up on insurance issues, or whatever else \u2013 that may mean playing phone tag, which I typically avoid.\u00a0 Yet, there are times that I am happy to tackle that process \u2013 and it makes sense to take advantage of that when it strikes.\u00a0 (This also doesn\u2019t mean that I only wait for the mood to work on those tasks.)<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something light and easy-going about doing things according to my mood or more correctly called my state of mind.\u00a0 I am not being a taskmaster upon myself yet I can get plenty of things accomplished.\u00a0 When I can use my whim time as I\u2019ve set it up \u2013 to make decisions about what I will do with my time and to do those things \u2013 I have a great feeling at the end of the day.\u00a0 It feels productive in the best way \u2013 being mindful of where I am at \u2013 both mentally and physically.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, my \u201cwhim time\u201d turns into escapism.\u00a0 This is not what I set out for my time.\u00a0 It\u2019s a behavior that the equivalent to burying my head in the sand and ignoring both what\u2019s good for me and what needs to be worked on.\u00a0 When this happens I feel horrible.\u00a0 In this age with all the possible ways we can distract ourselves and escape; it\u2019s easy to slip into this.\u00a0 I wonder if it\u2019s not even more of a temptation with our never-ending to-do lists.\u00a0 Is there ever a time when you are free from more tasks that need your attention?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve talked about being mindful of how you use your time (in the blog, Use Your Time Intentionally<\/a>) and I\u2019ve talked about finding ways to make your tasks fun (in the blog, Make It Fun<\/a>).\u00a0 In many ways, my \u201cwhim time\u201d is my combination of these two principles (and somehow David Allen\u2019s Getting Things Done<\/a>).\u00a0 I didn\u2019t set out to create this, but this is what it evolved into over time.<\/p>\n Maybe \u201cWhim Time\u201d is something you can use for yourself.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s not.\u00a0 You are welcome to it, if you want yet I would encourage you to find your own way to define your time that makes sense to you and for your life.\u00a0 Experiment with different ways to handle your time, observe what works and what doesn\u2019t (and this isn\u2019t always obvious from one or two tries) and see what develops for yourself.\u00a0 It really doesn\u2019t matter what you come up with, as long as it works for you.<\/p>\n I\u2019d love to hear what works for you and how you got there. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Time is fascinating yet the better we \u201chandle\u201d this limited commodity, the more effective we feel. Here\u2019s one way to evolve your time to work for you and feel great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[10,8,18,5,9,7,22,4],"class_list":["post-926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-timemanagement","tag-behavior","tag-discipline","tag-goals","tag-household","tag-motivation","tag-procrastination","tag-productivity","tag-routines"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-eW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":931,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions\/931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}