Rock Collections

I needed to call the telephone company, buy a carton of milk, return a friend’s telephone call, pay a bill… what happened to the day? I accomplished several items on my To Do list, yet there was a feeling of dissatisfaction.

I remember taking a course on time management and the trainer used some props- a fish tank, a large boulder, and many smaller rocks, or pebbles.

The trainer started by putting the pebbles in the tank, one by one, and showed that once they got to a certain level, there was no room to fit the boulder. He then emptied the tank, put in the boulder first, and slowly added pebbles one by one. It was easy to see that many pebbles would easily fit around the boulder.

I enrolled in this training to  enhance my management skills at work, and this demonstration made clear that if you saw the tank as the time you had in the day at work, you would accomplish the most if you started with the big items, and didn’t use up the space with little ones. The training was successful.  I learned that if I had a big task looming, like a grant proposal, or a research paper, I should tackle that first at the start of the day, and then as the day proceeded I could fit in the smaller items, like returning a phone call, reviewing a colleague’s research concept paper, meeting with my administrative staff, etc. If I started with all the small items, I would run out of time for what was most important to me.

When I retired, I looked forward to having ample time for my various interests. But I didn’t. I soon realized that I need to apply that training to manage my time. I have identified some boulders that I am eager to have in my life, including writing blogs and other essays, reading books for pleasure that I never had time to do, and exploring NYC museums and neighborhoods.  Although COVID has brought some limitations to the NYC exploration task, there are many places that can be explored using face masks and following social-distancing recommendations.

When I started undertaking some of my boulders, pebbles often get in the way. These were not trivial tasks, and included things like food shopping and paying bills, and each seemed like it could get done in a short time period. But there were always several of these every day, and together they filled up a big part of my fish tank. And then there was no room for my boulders.

No more! I have a new approach and it seems to be working.

At the beginning of each week I plan my boulders, generally in three- or four- hour blocks of time, for at least 3 days during the week. I have that as my first activity for that day, unless there is an urgent pebble or medium-sized rock to be taken care of.

I also designate some time each day for pebbles, both planned (like bill-paying) and unplanned (an unexpected phone call). If I am in the middle of a boulder I may pass on the unexpected pebble. But if it’s something I know I will enjoy, like a chance to have coffee with a cherished friend, I will do it and come back to the boulder as soon as I can.

That’s the plan. So far it is working, and there is room for boulders and pebbles and unanticipated activities.

I hesitate to end this posting this way, but forgive me reader, I can’t help it:  while my plan is not set in stone, the logic is rock-solid.