Wednesday 15 June 2011

Right about now if you hurry......

Before we get started with this week's post, I just wanted to say thanks to D for letting me know where to find blueing agent! I will let you know how it goes when I get around to it.

Which brings me to the topic at hand....time. Specifically, balancing time between work, home, time with kids, "me" time, couple time, taking out the trash, doing the laundry........

There just was not enough time to write about all of these things in one post, and even if there was, I am sure that it would be so long that most of you would not have the time to read it. Which would then make the effort spent in writing this week's blog a big waste....of time!

So in the interest of keeping things simple, (you thought I was going to make another time reference didn't you?) this is going to be the first of a three part series about managing time....or at least how we manage our time between seven kids, dance class, martial arts lessons, church picnics, etc.

The guiding principle we use to help us balance our time and the rest of life comes from the writings of Catherine Doherty, who founded the Madonna House religious community; it's called, "The Duty of the Moment".

The Duty of the Moment involves asking yourself the following questions:

1) Are you doing what you are supposed do be dong right now?
2) If the answer is "Yes", then are you doing it to the BEST of your ability with great love for God?

Incidentally if the answer to question 1 is no, then you better stop what you are doing and get to what you should be doing!

Think about it this way: to succeed at anything you need to "show up" i.e. You can't expect to win if your head is not in the game. The same goes for any aspect of life. You can't be a good father if your head is still at the office. Just because you don't have any paperwork with you does not mean that you aren't bringing your work home with you. Your duty of the moment is about where you are right now. Sometimes it means reading your kids a story instead of taking a nap. Sometimes it means changing a dirty diaper in the last 10 seconds of overtime. Sometimes it means pouring breakfast cereal for your three year old who asks you to do it just as you are walking out the door to go to work. Mothers know this reality all too well, but seeing as I am writing this as the TiPSI Dad, I figured that it was important to point this out because sometimes as dads, we get so caught up trying to keep up with the bill payments, office politics, eating healthy and 10,000 other things that we have to DO that we forget who we truly ARE....Husbands and Fathers.

I should also point out that if your duty of the moment right now is to rest...then TAKE A REST. You are good to no one if you are burnt out. You will only end up with an ulcer. Ulcers suck.

In another post I mentioned that the best advice that I ever got was to never confuse who I am with what I do. At some point in our lives most of us go through a phase where we want to make a big impact on the world in some way. What I have realized in the last 13 years of our marriage is that no matter what accomplishments I may achieve professionally, they are not going to be as important as the impact I will have on my children. At the end of the day our professional life is just what we did to put food on the table. The impact we have on our own kids is going to last for generations.

Next week: keeping things in order, in other words, how NOT to step into the squashed banana your kids left under the table.

TiPSI Dad

1 comment:

  1. i am quite excited to hear your insights for next week - this is very interesting to me.

    ReplyDelete