Does this sound familiar – you are juggling many activities and there does not seem to be enough time to do them all. You are being bombarded with requests for even more of your time and money. As a result you are tense. The tension may be affecting your sleep. If so, you are not alone.

How can you effectively manage time and money? There are some important similarities in managing both of them. Here they are.

Managing time and money. The most common approach is to spend time or money on activities or items as they arise and spend whatever is left over on important items. This approach is reactive and frequently not very effective.

The second is the bottoms-up approach (budgeting) where you decide ahead of time how you will spend your time or money for each category. This approach is time consuming and can be quite effective.

The third approach, also proactive and effective like the second, can be called top-down. It is the opposite of the first approach. Instead of allocating time or money for individual categories, you spend them on the important items first and then use the remaining time or money for the less important items.

Importance and Urgency. Stephen Covey, in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and other books, has popularized the difference between importance and urgency. Usually we spend our time on tasks that are urgent, although not necessarily important. However, it is the progress on the important but not necessarily urgent tasks that is often critical for leading a meaningful life.

We can spend our time and money only once. It is even more important to focus on the best use of time, because time cannot be stored up and used later.

The Pause. This is the most overlooked tool in managing time and money. A pause, either long- or short-term, can disconnect any stimulus you face from your reaction to it. A pause can be an opportunity to distinguish between urgency and importance. Without pausing it is much more difficult to change or improve.

Right now I am particularly focused on pausing. In March my mother died. I am mourning through structuring my time to include prayer and quiet time. This pause is an opportunity to think about her importance in the world and in my own life.

My mother is one of my role models. When she was in her 40’s, she paused from her substitute teaching to take some art classes, something she had always wanted to do. The art turned into a passion which she pursued for more than 40 years. Her example was an inspiration to me when I made my own transition 20 years ago from successful careers in science and computers into my lifelong hobby of finance and investing.

Opportunities to pause. No one has to die for you to pause. In fact, you have many opportunities built into your calendar. On New Years you can make resolutions; on milestone birthdays you can come to terms with your life. Your religious holidays and Sabbath are designed to help you reflect on your life. Here are some ideas about how to make your pauses more effective:

• Take advantage of these opportunities or set aside a different time – specifically for pausing.
• Write your conclusions down if you have decided to make changes.
  Discuss your ideas with people who are important to you. A written document will
• facilitate discussion.
• Use your written document or people important to you as accountability partners to help you be accountable to yourself for your own actions.

Good luck in your own journeys.

Dedicated to the memory of my mother Marian C. Fischer (1914-2006).