A Wise Time Management Idea for Family Men and Women

Wise use of our time is a pivotal matter for us all. It’s not like we are greedy to have more time just to waste it. Most want simply the time needed to make a good fist of all the important areas of their lives.

When I heard the following quote – knowing how much I struggle for a good balance when managing my work and family time – I was compelled to share it:

“I don’t find time management a problem. I employ quality time at work and quantity time at home.”

— Nick Marvin

The idea is that work time is time to put to good use; to not waste any of it, so when the work’s done we are free to spend more time at home with the family. This assumes a salaried position.

But even an hourly employee can make the choices necessary to spend less time at work and as much with family as can be afforded.

The principle holds: if we maximise our efficiencies when we are away from our families, we will earn ourselves more time with our families.

We might need to agree not to be too ambitious regarding our material goals.

Preferring to spend time with the family, and making time for individual family members is a choice only we, ourselves, can make. Nobody will argue with us – with the exception of our spouse – if we make our choice to spend less than an ideal amount of time with our family.

The quantity time with family is presumably also implicit of quality. It’s a happy time or at least it’s a time of building into each member of the family, individually.

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One of the parts of the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), that I like best is that the struggling Chris Gardner had to cram eight hours work into only six in order to juggle and manage all his commitments.

We all presumably have these seasons of life where we can barely keep up.

The important thing is to work hard when we need to, and to relax at every appropriate opportunity.

If we work hard, which also translates into efficiencies, we not only get more time with those that count, we also improve our workplaces. We ought not to skimp on relational time, though we can eradicate much senseless superficial chit-chat. The relational component of work is just as well done by simply focusing on good manners; by dealing very respectfully with everyone.

The harder we work, the more rewarding is our relaxation time.

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.