THE BIGGER PICTURE Shalini SinhaMost of us are continuously working far too hard. Our economy is exerting extreme pressure to be and do more. We are repeatedly reminded that if we don't comply, we will be replaced or left behind.
In this, our mental and physical health suffers. We seem to lack the time we want to do the things we really wish for, and no opportunity to fill our time with just freedom.
Despite all this, it is still possible to set things up as we want and need them to be. There must be a balance between actively pursuing priorities that are really fulfilling, and not becoming despondent, complacent or selling ourselves short.
We can have a sense of achieving our greatness in a way that makes sense on our terms and in line with our values and doesn't, at the same time, sacrifice our health and personal relationships. Achieving this requires us to know our self, our values, and to plan our time.
Sometimes doing less allows us to do more. When I was a child I was never allowed to watch TV without also peeling potatoes to help with dinner preparations and getting laundry ready during the ad breaks. It was suggested that this was a good use of time - accomplishing three distinct tasks in the same half an hour.
In reality, however, it's false time management. Every time you try to do more than one thing in the same time, each thing takes longer to do and is done to an inferior degree. It actually wastes time. Ironic, but true.
There's more. It's physically and emotionally stressful. You have less energy and concentration, you end up exhausted, and you don't digest your food or sleep well. You thus need more food and sleep to compensate, and everything takes more time. Above all else, while you might get everything you juggle done and even done well, it's unlikely you'll have had fun as you did them.
Having fun is a key element to really being successful in life and enjoying good health. Within contemporary society, this is incredibly difficult to prioritise.
Most of us carry feelings of not being inherently valuable, and so believe our value comes from the things we achieve (most likely for others). As such, we are actually motivated to drive ourselves into the ground. We need to develop a strong sense of self if we are to be able to enjoy the time we have.
It can be hard to reflect our self-value in our schedule when we're not actually feeling it. Nevertheless, there are a few things we should be doing with our time. A portion (only a portion) of our day should be dedicated to focused, disciplined work that is creative, fulfilling and reflects some of our greatness.
While this work should be fun, we should also have extra time to just play - follow the fancies of our childhood imaginations, let ourselves go, express ourselves, be mad, do silly things and laugh a lot. Part of this play should absolutely be done with other people, while some should be reserved for loving expressions with our self.
We should also make time to eat well in a relaxed environment, exercise and sleep. Above all, sleeping is important - not as a passive waste of time, but as an active and necessary process of rejuvenation.
It takes an incredible amount of faith to slow down when you want to do more. If handled properly - with focus and discipline - one should yield great results.
It's not easy, however. We are pushed to diversify and project super-human qualities in order to continue to show value and competitiveness in our economic market.
The pressure to be so many things in order to be successful wreaks havoc in our personal lives.
Luckily, in addition to being impossible to keep up this pretence, it is becoming increasingly possible to delegate practical aspects of business and work life to other workers developing niches in those areas.
As innovation and self-employment makes its mark on our market, each human being no longer needs to operate as an exclusive corporation, but can "outsource" some of their work to other people (so to speak).
This gives us the opportunity to get focused about what it is we offer and where we can engage and co-operate with others to achieve our goals.
Getting focused and organised requires excellent time management. Making lists, reflecting on our goals, prioritising and planning schedules allows us to get more done in less time. Sound boring? Could be, if you were a boring person to begin with. But, the fact is that being focused actually frees you up to enjoy what you're doing while you're doing it. It also circumvents worry over how much you have to do, how you might do it and what hasn't got done.
Most surprisingly (and all time management gurus will confirm this), you actually get more done in the day in less time, and have more time to just hang around.
ssinha@irish-times.ie
Shalini Sinha has worked as a life coach and counsellor and presents the intercultural programme, Mono, on RTÉ Television. She has a BA in comparative religion and anthropology and an MA in women's studies.