Tag Archives: time

Five years and counting

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khr 0614 BOk friends, I’ve been posting and you’ve been kind enough to read my writings for five years. As I read back through all the different posts some are more my favorites than others. Below is a list of some that stand out to me (in no particular order). Let me know what you think. Or go through the archives and pick your own favorite. I’d love to hear which one you liked.

And if you haven’t clicked on the follow button yet, please do. You won’t want to miss what’s coming. Besides, in this vast world of the internet, it’s encouraging to know my words aren’t just flying around aimlessly. They have friends to visit. Thanks.

5/31/2009 Things not to miss — be in the moment

11/30/2009 Black Friday Gateway to the Dark Side

3/6/2012 ‘Tis the Season

4/18/2014 It’ Friday, Sunday’s Coming

4/8/2013 Say Please and Thank You

KK

Giving you ONE hour

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I was joking with some folks Saturday afternoon about what they were going to do with their extra hour yesterday. The clocks rolled back an hour for daylight savings time at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning giving us an extra hour in our day.

It’s like a gift. How many times do you find yourself saying, “If I only hand more hours in a day.” Well, yesterday you did. Sixty whole minutes. Yes, initially those minutes came in the middle of the night; so most people say their time was used sleeping. Given that my Sunday morning routine was pretty normal, I didn’t feel the extra hour until last night when it got dark at 7:00 p.m. I was starting to get that “it’s time to settle in feeling.” I did get one chore done that has been nagging at me for months so I’ll give credit to having an extra hour in my day.

mertle cartoonI’m not sure if daylight savings time begins or ends in the fall. If it’s ending in fall, are we getting the hour back we gave last spring or are we being given an hour on loan from next spring when we will be forced to give it back. Why doesn’t the time change get confused when during a leap year when we have an entire day added to our calendar? These and others are the questions that confound me about time. It’s like trying to grasp water.

Some fun facts about daylight savings – Some historical leaders are credited with creating daylight savings time to conserve candles and fuels for creating light during war times. In the early part of the century it was said that daylight savings time benefited the farmers as well as summer recreation such as ballgames. Today daylight savings time is used in 70 countries around the world. Most of the US participates in daylight savings time except for Hawaii and parts of Arizona.

What did you do with your extra hour yesterday?

KK

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.

                — Benjamin Franklin

Everybody’s Busy

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Everybody’s busy – this seems to be the thing to say when an invitation is declined instead of saying “I’m sorry you can’t attend”. While it is easy to get caught up in all the opportunities life offers today; it’s also easy to waste a lot of time with cable tv, mobile device games, and other internet surfing.

busy peoplePeople are as busy as they want to be.  There are times when work and personal activities collide and a little hustle is required. The hours of the day are full.  This hustle doesn’t last forever.

Adults can take control of their time to fulfill their responsibilities such as work and family.  If life becomes too hassled and full, it may be time to re-evaluate the “time-suckers”.  Do they fall within personal priorities?

If someone declines your invitation, it may not mean they are too busy, it simply means that event is at the same time as something else that day.

Just a thought,

KK

Farewell 2013

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It’s half past three in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve.  I’ve spent some time in the office taking care of a few things – organizing.  The January calendar is set up and ready for the appointments I have in the first two weeks.  The whiteboard has project priorities.  There is order to my work space.

On a personal note, the checkbook is balanced (yes, I do this at least once a month and recommend it for others).  The big home projects for the coming year have been discussed and prioritized.  To close 2013, I feel the completion of 365 full and rich days. Even those with tears and challenges brought something.

It was a good year personally and professionally.  I am so proud of my son and husband for their accomplishments and letting me be on their journey just as they have rooted me on during mine.

There were goals achieved and others still undone.  Will I recommit to the unfinished?  We will see.

I have grown personally in knowledge and wisdom.  Sometimes I feel my age and sometimes my life experience. One truth is that I will never stop learning.

As we turn the last page of the calendar, may we do so with all of the optimism a new year brings.  May we breathe in the freshness of 365 blank days and look forward to all of the activities and people who will fill them.  God bless you and carry you through each one of them.

All the best,

KK

The Closing

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The calendar is waning.  Christmas is over.  Retailers are rushing us into the next holiday.  There is work to be done, but most meetings are cancelled.  The work pace is easy and there is opportunity to get organized and ready to go.  I spent some time today closing out a few files for 2013.calendar_1

It’s hard not to begin planning for 2014.  Over the last week it has been so wonderful to gear-down that I don’t want to go rushing into the New Year.  I’d like to ease into it, choose my goals wisely and roll from there.

Yes, I used the dirty word, “goals”.  We will talk about that later.  For now, let’s just spend some more time with family and play with our new things we got for Christmas.

All the best,

KK

Rushing Retail

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Fair_volleyball_wingsDecember 26th I passed a Valentine display at Wal-Mart.  It gave me a frustrated pause.  We live in this world of being never satisfied, wanting instant gratification, and rushing to the next thing.  Any chance those in retail encourage and promote this mindset?  There are entire Seasonal sections of big box stores.   These sections are the gateway to the buyer not being happy in the moment.  What’s coming up next?

It is our responsibility to control how much we let outside forces like advertising, email and other social media control our time.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about planning when it’s pertinent to my priorities and not because Hallmark thinks I need to purchase cards and candy six weeks early.  What do you do to not let these outside messages take over your time and day-planner?

All the best,

KK

Why?

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Someone has asked the question, and today I’m pondering it.

Why do most people over estimate what they can accomplish in one year and under-estimate what they can accomplish in 10 years?

What do you think?

KK

It’s Just a Drop in the Bucket

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How many times is the question asked, “What does it matter”? It’s just a drop in the bucket; meaningless.  Every day we make drop in bucketthousands of declarations, I do, I don’t, I will, I can’t, yes, no, maybe.  Each of these little words leads to an action or no action, but all of them move us forward.  Put these declarations in a string and the results are decisions that pave the journey of life.  Meaningless – no decision is completely meaningless and all lead to experiences that make and mold who we are.   What impact will my decisions really have, I am one individual?

Recently, I was watching the Discovery Channel with my son.  The show talked about water molecules.  Water drops tend to reach and adhere to each other.  So two drops of water close enough on a plate or counter will join and become a bigger drop.  If you fill a cup to the rim the water molecules are clinging to each other and will sit on the very edge of the cup until some other action forces them over the edge.

This bucket was set under a dripping facet – one drip at a time and a few hours later the bucket was full.  One drip barely made tdrip in buckethe bucket wet, but in a short time there is enough to wash.

Choices and decisions may seem like nothing, but they all lead to something.  Where are you going?

All the best,

KK

Saturday, January 21, 2012

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“We always over estimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in five years.” – Source unknown

It’s Saturday, January 21st and most people who made New Year’s resolutions have given up.  It’s been too cold or life got busy again getting back to the routine of work and school. Resolutions or goals are like running a marathon.  Runners don’t bust off the line and burn all of their energy in the first mile; they plan their pace to accomplish the time they want across the finish line.

So, did you blast off on January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd?  Below are few suggestions for reloading those goals and re-committing.

First, be realistic.  Runners don’t just get up one morning and decide to win a race.  They start with training and really having a passion for racing.  Go back and review the resolution or goal you wrote down (you did write it down, or do I need to go back further on goal setting).  Did you set too many goals or make too many resolutions? Maybe choose only one or two to really commit to.  Do you have the ability and desire to accomplish the goal within the year?   If either is in question, keep reading as we further look at reloading.

Second, give yourself a new start date.  January 1st is a natural calendar start, but goals can be started anytime.  If the first quarter of the year is very busy for you in one area of your life, you may need to set a start date further out.   My goals are written by the end of the first week of January, but my start date isn’t until February 1st.  This allows me a month to plan for them, pray over them and really commit to working toward accomplishing them.

Third, break the goal down into bite size chunks.  Runners usually start out walking or running smaller races to train and get in shape.  What are the steps to accomplishing your goal?  Do you need to take a class?  Do you need to plan for some activity toward that goal each week?  Take the piece of paper you wrote the goal on (you did write it down, didn’t you) and under the goal write the steps to accomplishing it.  Then go through and give each step a deadline.  Are your deadlines doable with your other responsibilities?  Add these deadlines to the calendar you live by; if it’s electronic then set reminders for yourself.

Fourth, keep your goal fresh.  Set a date five or six months from your start to revisit the goal.  Do you still want to accomplish this?  How are you doing? Do you need to adjust your goal to better fit your time, ability and resources?

By writing your goals and making them work within your passion, lifestyle and resources, you are taking control.  When you take charge of your goals and resolutions, you will accomplish more than if you give up before the end of the first month; and even more will be accomplished if you write the goal down.  Every day is a new start, every week is a new beginning and every month is a fresh commitment.

See you at the finish line,

KK