by March 6, 2018. What a happy day for me. Today is the day I return to wearing a watch. Maybe it doesn’t sound that magnificent to you but, to me, it symbolizes a victory over my time management issues. It also symbolizes how creative coaching solutions can mean so much to those who struggle.
Flashback to 2000, I was 35 years old and constantly late to EVERYTHING. I told my therapist I was so ashamed of not being able to get anywhere or do anything on-time. I would wake up early and get ready early. Then, I would look at my watch, my lovely moon phase watch, and say, “I have plenty of time” and promptly start another task – which of course made me late!
“Sounds like looking at your watch is actually making you late,” my therapist said. I was dumbstruck. Was she actually suggesting that the device responsible for keeping me on time was really at the root of making me late? I would like to say I received this question in the spirit of the curiosity with which it was intended. I did not. Instead, I questioned my therapist’s qualifications and state of mind.
Her question nagged at me. What if she was right? What if I didn’t look at my watch? That’s crazy. No, what if I still got up early, still got ready early, and then didn’t look at my watch? What would happen? Well, it turned out I was so enamored with my watch I couldn’t not look at it! So, I took it off and put it in the bathroom drawer.
The first weeks were a bit rough but, I stopped trying to do that “one more thing” before I left. And, I started to be on time. And, I began to feel responsible.
Four months ago I was cleaning out that bathroom drawer and found the watch. It took a new battery, a new movement, and a few months at the Citizen factory to get it running again but, I think it was worth it. I was brave enough to set it aside and get my time management processes securely in place. Now, I am brave enough to put it back on and see how I do. I’ll let you know.
(Yes, that is a picture of my watch.)
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