Category Archives: Margin

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Time Margin: How to fit it all in??

Creating time margin for yourself and your dreams


I just lost an hour and a half.
 I was trying to help. I really was.
 Losing time
I was traveling with my son to an event that he needed to attend. We had agreed to leave the hotel at 6:30 to get him where he needed to be by 7:30. I was ready but he was distracted, I think he thought I was being too uptight leaving an hour to get to the event (It could be a thing). Anyway, I was ready and I grabbed his suit-jacket off the hanger and hung it on his suitcase rolling handle.
So, I get him out the door and between needing to get him food, getting lost twice, I got him to the event at 7:35. As he is getting out of the car he realized that he does not have his tie on so he looks in his bag. Then he realizes it is probably hanging on the hanger where his suit was (which Mom had failed to grab).
So… he went into his event and I drove back to get the tie and hanger from the hotel room. In trying to save a few minutes, by over mom-ing him, I got to spend an hour and a half driving back to the hotel. Getting the tie. Driving back to his event so he could be properly dressed.
If I had only let him manage himself, which he is very capable of doing, I would have saved myself an hour and a half and quarter tank of gas.
 
This made me think of where else in our lives do we create chaos or extra work because we are interfering or helping unnecessarily.?? If we are to find the time in our busy lives to live our dreams and passions this might be an area to look at.
 
So here are some things to think about to help create extra time and energy for you:
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Margin: A key to living a life you love

Creating Margin adds Peace and Joy to Life!

I believe that one of the keys to living a life you love is to have margin built into your life. Margin is also necessary to be able to take action on a dream.
 
So, what do I mean by margin? I define margin as the extra, intentionally unused space.
On a word processing document, you set the ‘margins’; which is the area your text and illustrations will stay within. Likewise in design, we use the term ‘white space’ or ‘ negative space’ to designate that part of the sign, ad or website that is between visual elements.
 
This creates balance, increases legibility, higher comprehension and increased attention to important messaging.
 
Likewise, in life, we need margin to be happy and content. Life happens. Things don’t go according to plan. Kids get sick. Mom calls just to chat. A shipment of a key resource gets delayed. Things always take longer than you think they will. These situations come up and the amount of margin in your life will determine if you can roll with the punches or if you are in a crisis situation. I believe that building margin is important in several key areas of life: