Purplemoon Monthly Musing
Posted 30th April 2025
There's never enough time!- an Purplemoon Monthly Musing
Welcome to Purplemoon Monthly Musings.
On the final Wednesday of every month Jenny will be posting out about a theme that has been appearing in her work, or her life, across all sectors. It could be a topic that particularly resonates with you, or it might be a new concept or idea to you. Either way the aim is to give voice to some thoughts, ponder some questions and explore what this might mean to us as individuals and as a community. Jenny will always aim to credit original sources as she explores the musings title and will welcome your comments and contributions to keep the musing going! This blog is also published on LinkedIn. Follow Jenny here.
Have you ever said 'there isn't enough time, or that 'there is no time for 'it'?'
these phrases are particularly used when it comes to wellbeing/self care/fun activities. I know that it is a phrase that I have used myself, and it is still present as a thought that can pop up regularly. When I hear this phrase muttered there are two responses that I usually utilise (the first usually when it is a specific task or activity, the second when it is a generalised response):
- Not enough time to complete it? Start it? Or do it to the standard you want to?
- Is it really a time issue or a workload, expectation, overwhelmed issue?
The reality that most human beings grapple with is that time is finite. It just is rigid and relentless in its passing. Time is not something we can change. However, what I have come to realise, and what I give space to others to explore is, we can change our relationship with time. So can we utilise it better?
The key to consider is; are we are using time ‘management’ as an excuse to not do things. Or do we see it as a more acceptable reason to give than ”I am overwhelmed” or ”I don’t know where/how to start.”
Queen Mañana
I am a queen of procrastination, to the point that my parents would often use ‘mañana’ as a nickname for me. What I realised is that I didn’t like starting anything unless I knew I had time to complete it. So not starting the task meant that that I could use my time (today) for something else and that task would be done in the future. Of course it isn’t the best strategy to have, especially when you are working and have deadlines and people counting on you to get things done so they can do their work! So now I consider larger tasks as sequences of mini tasks and experience success of the completion of stages, and plan through what is done today, by the end of the week, and so on. This may mean that different projects, reports, plans are all at different stages, and many are unfinished, but they are being done!
Measuring Time
Time is also hard for humans to measure, so although we understand that a minute is 60 seconds, and always will be 60 seconds, we experience time in different ways depending on what we are doing. With the pull of the internet and the ability to go down virtual rabbit holes and explore so many tangents and possibilities we can lose track of time. We have so much ‘research’ and ‘evidence’ and ‘experiences’ at our fingertips it has become so hard to be disciplined in what data or evidence to use as so many tangents can be fascinating time hoovers. So before you know it the afternoon is gone! We also sometime have unrealistic expectation of what we can achieve in 10 minutes, 30 minutes etc. I am sure that everyone has experienced saying ‘give me 5 minutes’ to a family member or colleague. Or ‘Yep, I can do that, it’ll only take me 30 minutes’.
The reality is sometimes it really will take longer! This might be because you want to operate at a very high (perfectionist) standard. sometimes it is because you are being constantly distracted by others (or yourself) or sometimes it is because it is more complicated/time consuming that you thought.
We also can get caught in a loop. Sometimes we think something is done, but we get a query, or a response. Or in completing one activity (say a meeting) more work/actions are created and this then all takes time, so is the task completed or not? This is where overwhelm can really kick in; the thought of ‘there’s just not enough time.’
So What Can You Do?
- Know which tasks need your undivided attention, and potentially which need high energy levels, and consider first when in the day/week you are going to do them (and plan it in) and also consider where you are going to do them. – where is interesting, as it also might me where in the day – so if you are in a shared office, when will you be there on your own? Or do you need to take yourself elsewhere?
- Be prepared in busy seasons to spend less time on making reports/articles look pretty! Accept that good enough is good enough- and know what this is! Does what you have done do the minimum requirements? If it does, then it is complete, move on. This is about the wise use of time.
- Be realistic, use the knowledge you have gained from experience – if you have a meeting and you know there will be actions for you/follow up, then plan these in to your time. Block out time pre and post meeting for prep and follow up. Do this for all meetings. Some will require less- this is where your experience counts. If you have a task to complete that requires research, or talking to people or gathering evidence, block this out too! Task prep into the plan first, and then task doing.
- Even when we are experienced, we can still be a novice, and so some tasks need learning, so they will take longer! Remember that the first time of doing, more time will be needed. You will get quicker as you get experienced! (I will be returning to novice/expert a few times in the monthly musings, it resonates in so many places).
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