Invest more time in important, not urgent, activities

Last Thursday, I got called out for falling asleep in class. It wasn't for very long, and my professor didn't make a big deal out of it, but I was still extremely embarrassed. I really didn't intend to fall asleep. I take notes, and I do actually find the class interesting and enjoyable. Yet, last Thursday, there I was at 11:48 in Bessey Hall snoozing away in the middle of class. The question I really have to ask myself is, why? It's really quite ridiculous when you consider the fact that on Thursdays I have only one class, which begins at 11:00 AM and have the rest of the day almost entirely free. I could have taken a nap at literally any other time that day, and it wouldn't have been a problem.     

The reason that I did this is that I have terrible living order. I am involved in many activities, I have way too much homework and countless relationships to build and maintain. I don't sleep enough at night, exercise or relax enough, and, quite frankly, I don't use my time well enough to do any of these things to the best of my ability. This is why instead of paying attention in class I found myself dozing off.      

I am, in far more ways than I would like to admit, a product of a generation that never seems to have enough time; a generation that is constantly rushing, constantly moving and always seems to be stuck doing what needs to be done rather than what we want to get done. We have fast food, high-speed Internet and instant messaging and yet we never seem to have enough time.     

We spend so much time frantically trying to be productive and efficient that we don't realize if we were to just take a break and do those really important things we don't have to do, we'd find ourselves a lot more productive in the long run and a lot happier.    

I am terrible at this. For example, I usually spend my Friday nights working on homework (yes, I know, a little lame). At some point during the five- to six-hour block of time I devote to this, I inevitably become bored and distracted and start looking at the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post over and over for about an hour. After I'm disgusted with my lack of productivity, I will turn back to doing homework.     

The reason I do this is that I desperately want to be responsible and get my homework done. However, if a few hours into my evening I were to take a break and do something such as play a game of racquetball, call a friend or play a little guitar, I would be able to return to my homework refreshed and ready to be productive.      

Instead I end up wasting time that could have been spent on something worthwhile, and I feel just as bored and distracted when I finally force myself to return to my homework.      

What I need, and what we need as a culture, is better living order. Notice that I don't say "balance." We love to talk about balancing our time better, but this is the wrong way of looking at things. Life should be ordered and not just balanced. We have to determine which things we care about the most and order the amount of time we spend on them accordingly.     

In his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Stephen Covey argues the decisions we make tend to be influenced by two factors: importance and urgency. Important things are those that matter to us (such as building relationships), while urgent things are those things that are pressing or have to be done immediately (such as a paper due in two hours).     

In general, the things we want to spend the most time on are those that are important but not urgent. This includes activities such as spending time with family, friends or significant others, working on our hobbies or improving our spiritual lives.     

Many of us, however, spend many of our waking hours on things that are urgent and important, like meeting deadlines at work or school, and then when we finally get a break, we end up doing things that are neither important nor urgent.     

A recent study shows that the average American watches television for more than four hours a day, which is the epitome of non-urgent and unimportant activity. College students are notorious for weekend binge drinking, which is another prime example of burnout-influenced, non-urgent, unimportant activity. This sort of lifestyle leads to a great deal of stress and often a general feeling of helplessness.     

The key to living order is to work to spend more of our time on those things that are important but not urgent. This means scheduling effectively, eliminating procrastination and learning how to say no. It means getting things done ahead of time and making time for those things that are important. It means sleeping enough, exercising enough and just generally being conscientious of how we are spending our time.     

A 2006 Gallup poll found more than 40 percent of Americans are often stressed, while only three percent say they are never stressed. It also found that 55 percent of us don't have the time do what we want.

Many people don't have living order, but if we can develop it in our lives we can be part of that three percent. We will find ourselves happier, healthier and more productive, and I won't have trouble with falling asleep in class.


Luke Fischer is a junior secondary education major. Reach him at LUKEFISCHER@DAILYNEBRASKAN.com.