Intentionality and Efficiency

Trying to lose weight can be really frustrating. Too often you feel like you're hardly eating anything, and yet you're still stuck, or worse, gaining. Experts say you should record everything you eat. Not just what you have for meals, but everything that passes your lips. When you do this, you discover a couple of things.

1) Most of us take in far more calories than we realize in snacking. (A few pieces of candy here, a handful of chips there...) We unintentionally use up excessive amounts of our calorie "budget" on things that we were almost unaware of.

2) We often eat meals that are high in calories while low in volume and nutrition. Essentially, we are being inefficient in our calorie usage. We'd be far better off eating items that have relatively high volume and nutrition for the same amount of calories.

I've been thinking about how these principles relate to time management.

I have many days when I feel like I'm running around like a mad-woman trying to get everything done, but when I "weigh in" at the end of the day, I can't seem to identify anything I've really accomplished or satisfactorily determine what kept me so busy. So frustrating!

When I stop to take stock of my free moments, I discover I've unintentionally wasted them away on activities that don't carry much (if any) real value to me, (T.V., mindless apps or games, Facebook stocking...) Also, I've been inefficient with my time, (taking my sweet time at a certain task, waiting around for this before I can do that, not taking advantage of the in-between moments...)

I now have a goal to be more intentional with my free time. That doesn't mean I have to be working constantly. It does mean that I'll write down all those things I always wish I had time for and make them a priority, (singing, playing the piano, watching old movies, reading...)

I also intend to be more efficient with my time. I'll multi-task, prioritize, and do the most important things first. I can read my scriptures while I nurse my baby in the morning. Better yet, I can read them out loud to my two-year-old while she finishes her breakfast and I nurse, and then we can discuss the gospel principles we learn.

That is what it means to be intentional and efficient.