Time Management: What To Cut

Last week, when my wife got home from her Weight Watchers meeting, in an attempt to be supportive I asked her how it went. She said she didn't get much from that meeting. The speaker talked about ways to cook meals faster, but my wife says she has it all backwards. The woman said to buy the brown rice that can be microwaved. My wife's response (to me, not in the group) is that rice has most of what makes it healthy processed out. The woman also said to buy the pre-cut chicken strips. My wife prefers to buy a much less expensive pack of chicken and cut it herself.

That may be part of the weight problem for many people. We have so much going on that we cut the wrong corners. I know people who have kids involved in every sport and school activity under the sun, plus both parents work. The corners they have to cut to make it all work out somehow (I can't use the word "balance" here for good reason) are apparently all the wrong ones. They cut out rest and nutrition.

We have to cut corners the other way to make things work out. My wife stays home with the kids so we only have my income. We have to buy our cars used and get our furniture for free on Craig's List. We buy a lot from Sam's Club and Produce Junction. I'd love to say we don't eat out as much, but it sure seems like we eat out too much some weeks.

Life is full of choices. It's important to make the right ones. It often seems that we spend most of life reacting to events around us. I can remember reading Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising", a great novel about a fictional war with the Soviet Union circa 1987, when the staff of our military realized that as long as (we- the fictional US) were reacting to (them- the fictional Soviets), we were losing. It is only by causing the enemy to react that you start to win.

Let me leave you with this question: what good are you cutting out of your life in reaction to other forces, which are not necessarily good. Are you cutting out the time to prepare a nice meal in exchange for other events that may be just as fleeting as the meal?

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