The Need to Set Time-Boundaries

Budgeting Time for the Week – Part 2

Budgeted Time – Part 7.2

I like using my calendar to govern what I do and when. It keeps me on track to accomplish what must be done and takes the worries away. I rarely get caught off guard by a fire because I spend quality time making sure my calendar remains updated. If you don’t set boundaries by using a preset schedule, someone else will. If you don’t set the boundaries by budgeting your time, someone else will. In fact, if you don’t set boundaries, your schedule will be abused. People, although they may not intend to, will rob you of time you need. American humorist, Evan Esar made this statement, “if you don’t get the better of yourself, someone else will.” Someone else will overload, overrun, or overtake your schedule and will work against you setting boundaries for yourself. In this lesson, we will discuss three key objectives when it comes to setting time-boundaries. Let’s take a look at each of them.

1. Have a purpose for every week.
   Every week needs a purpose. Only average, normal, ordinary people have weeks without purpose. It’s okay if you’re not totally there yet, but that’s why you’re reading this. The experts say you should make goals. Therefore, make goals for the week. What do you plan to accomplish this week? That’s the question you should ask yourself at the end of or at the beginning of each week. What major activity shall I accomplish this week? Or, in other words, at the end of the week you want to be able to answer, what did I do with this week that God has given me? Have I made a difference? Have I made an impact? Have I made any progress? What was significant enough about this week that I can look back on and say “this week was a successful week for me?” In order to be a next level type of person, you must consider what you do with that period of time that you call a week. What time-transactions have you allowed to influence what you are doing with your week? Give every week a purpose, a mission, and have an idea of what it is you wish to accomplish.
   
   
2. Determine and set controls around your week.
   Control your time or it will be controlled for you. The thing about time is, if you don’t have a purpose or mission for it, you open the door for someone else to take control of it. You have seen this many times before. When you have no control around your time, you don’t have to worry about achieving the things you plan. Because of this someone else’s plans or activities will overrule any idea or concept that you have for it. You must be intentional about your week and take control of it. You must have a plan for your week, a budget, a calendar, and a list of activities that are pre-set in order to stay on track with the purpose which you have applied to it. The question is who do you want to have free reign over your week? You or someone else? Which is more important, you controlling your week, some other person, some organization, some entity, or some other group?
   
   
3. Identify the times that you can work in a week.
   This means you have to have a mechanism or system in place. What system are you using to govern your week? How will you track the boundaries you already have? The easiest way to do this is to have a calendar, whether digital or paper-based (analog). Some people, like me, have a mixture of the two, a digital calendar for a long term view or review plus an analog calendar system for daily interactions. This idea inspired by Michael Hyatt and his Full Focus platform helped shape this concept of setting boundaries in your schedule in two ways.
   
   
   • How much time do I really have?
     Once you set your available time slots, you then know how much time during the week you have to work with. You can’t get more time, but you can decide what gets in these slots and have intentional focus. In order to determine what time you have available in a given week, you must already know what’s pre-set. If you don’t have anything set or accounted for in your week, then you don’t truly know what time you have available. Without this knowledge, it becomes difficult for you to determine how much time you really have available to do anything else. Eliminate your scheduling mishaps by identifying what you already have in place. In this way, you begin establishing the boundaries needed to take your management of time to the next level.
     
     
   • How to set boundaries which include your work.
     In light of setting boundaries to govern your week or time, how do you set boundaries which include your work? Many people like to have a separate work and personal calendar. This often creates a problem. Here is why. You need to see both or have a process that allows you to see them both in one place. This will keep you from overbooking work with home, with school, with church, or with any other activities.

Setting boundaries to govern your week requires you to be able to see time like a blueprint. Create a blueprint so that you know how to build out your week. No one would intentionally build a house without having a plan of some kind. It is hard to build a house or design the right home, if you didn’t start with some type of plan. How many rooms do you plan to have? The same is true when you design a week of your time. Charles Richards, author of The Psychology of Wealth, used these words. “Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.” ^[1] Sit down and ask yourself, how will I design this week so that I can get the outcome I wish to produce at the end of it. Once you have learned to design your week on paper or digitally, then it becomes an exciting activity because at the end of it, you know what you are producing. The goal is to produce something at the end of the week that makes life worth living. This is what it means to have a next level life with boundaries in your schedule.

Questions: what boundaries would you like to establish in your time-budget for this week?

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[1] ‭‭Richards, C. “Charles Richards > Quotes” Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/452105.Charles_Richards (Accessed: 2 November 2022)

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