Senior Living: Time Management As You Grow Older

You would think we would know how to manage our time by now wouldn’t you?  We all looked forward to retirement because we thought we would have time to do all of the things that we had been putting off for the last millennium.  Still, not a day goes by when I don’t hear someone complain that they don’t know where the time goes.

 

When you get older and are living with just a little bit more pain and little more fatigue, you have to accept that it is important to balance activity and rest.  This is really hard when your mind still feels twenty-six even though your body does not.  How can you find time to rest when you hardly have time to get through the day the way it is?

 

Every magazine in the rack talks about time management in some way, shape, or form and it isn’t any different now than it was before you became ‘older.’  Mary Anne Dunking (Arthritis Today; Sept/Oct 2010) consulted a time manager about certain problem areas that she had encountered.

 

If you rush too much, you become careless and make mistake.  Mistakes mean that you will have to do things over again, whether it means returning to the grocery store because you forgot the main thing you went for in the first place, or having to rewrite something because you can’t read your handwriting.  The expert says that if you slow down and do your task right in the first place you will save time in the long run. 

 

You could very well be a perfectionist, which means that you have to figure out and allow yourself time to complete a task, and find ways to do it more efficiently. 

 

It is also time to learn how to delegate, and to allow yourself to accept help.  Stop being so determined to do it all yourself.   All it accomplishes is making you feel harried, late, or exhausted.  Give yourself permission to do less, and then do one task at a time.  No one else really cares if you miss that fingerprint smudge by the light fixture. Do you want to be remembered as the smudge expert or as the kind loving person that you could be, if you had time? 

 

If you find yourself procrastinating because a task is too daunting or too dull, look for ways to make the task easier.  Break up big tasks into little ones.  It is okay to use a to-do list as long as you don’t make it too long or too detailed.

 

If you are rushing through each day without a moment to catch your breath you are doing too much.  Mary Edwards Minister (Michigan Chronicle: Jan 6-12, 2010) writes that if “being too busy robs you of the joy of living.  It also causes chronic stress, increases health risks and damages relationships.”  Hopefully you have learned your lesson by now and are ready to have a more relaxed mind-set.

 

Comments

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Time management is always important, especially for people getting older but remaining very active. Although keeping busy is a good thing, it is very important to have a relaxed mind-set, as you said. There are many products out there for seniors which are great stress relievers, as well as time-savers.

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