Every Monday Matters-Monday 01

Well, it didn't start off too well. This day that is. Though I was looking forward to beginning this project very much, this Monday, to be honest, kind of kicked my ass. One of those where you'd pay all your savings to just stay in bed, where you keep thinking of ever wilder reasons why you absolutely positively couldn't possibly work today. But I persevered and stuck it out.

The title for Week 1 is What Matters Most. The task at hand, I guess to pave the way for the other 51 weeks and to sort of ease us into this, is to make a list of the most important things to us, a list that breaks down how we currently spend our time each week and then organize those activities into required, optional and time wasting. Then you take steps to cut out the time wasters to open things up for more of what really matters. There are also some scary time stats just in case you weren't totally on board like the average person spends 100 hours per year commuting to work compared to 80 hours of vacation (they must have been using European vacation numbers).

So what matters most to me is:

Family/Friends (couldn't seperate them-this also includes pets, they're family too)
Love (this is kinda weird now, plus if you're in love don't they become family?)
My Assorted Projects (or in Mafia speak 'these little things of mine')
Work/Career (some days it just feels like work, on good days a career)
Health (my doctors would probably like this one a little higher)
Education (the self taught kind these days)

The second part is a bit trickier (or easier depending on your perspective) because seperate from the 50ish hours I spend at work in a week (80 minutes of commuting per day) my time is my own. I have no local family, few local friends and no significant other. This is of course one reason I was attracted to this project-less time in my own head these days is extremely appealing.

Now this doesn't mean I don't waste time, I certainly do. I am a champion procrastinator always. But I don't think the depressed reckon time the same way as others and I am not so inclined to bust my own chops on this. At least right now. If what I need is to take a hot bath with a book till I'm pruney I think that's okay. But as I pledged to I will be very cognizant of my time use this week and try to make good choices-things that edify or give pleasure make that time matter.