A Year is a Year, Right?

A minute will take 60 seconds to pass. No less, no more. But our perception of time seems to be relative when we consider the events taking place during that duration. For instance, how long does 5 seconds feel like when you're car is careening off the road? Or how long does a week feel like when you're on vacation? "Time flies when you're having fun." There is more truth to that statement than we think.

Several things led me to this thought process today. First was my list of 10 things for 2010. I decided that I'd sort them by which items required money to accomplish and which ones didn't. I was a little downhearted when I realized that at least 70% (and maybe more) require cash. How can I possibly spend money on these things when I have so many other obligations? That's conventional thought.

Okay, so my goal is to break out of the box of conventional thought. Just because it takes money to accomplish some things doesn't mean that it has to be expensive. So, instead of thinking of it in terms of money, I broke out my list in terms of time.

A year can seem like a long time. Especially when you're looking from January first to December 31st. 12 long months. Not so. Thinking that you have a whole year to accomplish 10 things lends itself to procrastination. So I looked at my list again from the perspective of which items on my list can I accomplish in the next 6 months? Happily, at least half of them! I'll aim for those first while taking steps to also accomplish the other 5 in the latter part of the year. Shorter deadlines make us work harder. And the adrenaline from that deadline often makes us work better.

Being efficient and being effective are not always the same thing.