Out of the Dust

This is the beginning of Lent. It is one of those times of year, like New Years and, for some, Advent - perhaps the odd birthday or two as well - when we try our best to set a goal and stick to it.

In Lent we traditionally give something up - something that is both dear to us and something we feel we can live without, such as chocolate, or coffee, or meat. A more recent development in the Lenten tradition is to take on something new as a spiritual exercise such as setting aside a specific time to read or meditate, or to do some specific charitable act.

Whatever your spiritual background, be it Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Jainism... whatever it may be, I'm sure you've found yourself at this very common cross-road of setting some task for yourself such as letting go of something or taking on something. You said to yourself, "This is good. I can do this."

But what happens a week or so into the practice? Well, if you're like me, you find that you skipped one... then two... then... well, the practice sorta fell by the wayside and that chocolate bar just magically was in your hand and all was gone, save the wrapper!

The same holds true of our time management practices. We start our really well those first few days, doing our morning planning, our evening review, keeping up with our continuous monitoring. Then that morning the alarm went off late, or our best friend came into town and we left work a little early and hung out with them until the wee hours - no planning or review that day. Then it was a quick slide down that slippery slope.

How do I know this, you ask? Easy! It happens to me! Yep. I'm just like you. It happens; we start out, we slip. So what do we do?

I went to a quiet day retreat this weekend and the Rev'd Barbara Crafton was the speaker and this very topic was part of her focus. I relearned some very interesting points I'd like to share with you.

1) Little by little our disciplines trickle into dust. We tend to really beat ourselves up over this, but it is very much the nature of things. There are certainly things that can help us stay on track, but chances are you start out gang-busters, and then little by little that discipline just fades away.

I want to tell you something about this... IT'S OK! It happens. So what do you do? Easy. You pick it up and start it again... no harm, no foul.

2) Failing at something doesn't mean you are a failure. Just because you failed at doing your planning doesn't mean you are a failure - or that you are a failure at time management itself. Failing at something isn't a bad thing; quite the contrary, it's an opportunity to learn.

Sit back and think about why you may have failed. Maybe you're trying to force it at a time that's not right for you (if you're not a "morning person" then setting that alarm clock a half hour earlier just probably was recipe for disaster anyway.)

This practice - the practice of good time management - is a gift, not a job. Let yourself enjoy it; do it at a time that is good for you. If you do that, then you will begin to see more and more how your life is continuing to grow toward betterment.