Living in the Margins of Life and
How to Find Time to Do It All
This Bulletin was inspired by an email from publisher friend Betty Chypre many years ago. What I learned from her about managing time still resonates with me today. Maybe with you, too.
Everyone is so busy today, and finding enough time to do everything we want to do is now a universal problem. Although technology helps us save time, it’s constantly changing, so we must spend time learning how to use the latest technology, which increases our stress.
I recall hearing a doctor on the radio explaining how, years ago, our lives had wide margins in the areas of our mental and physical health as well as time and money. Today, however, he said many of us are living in or against those margins. We’re stretched way too thin where time and money are concerned, so we push ourselves to our very limits mentally and physically to get things done or accomplish goals. Often, a price must be paid for living this way. Overwork can lead to a breakdown in one’s health or emotional stability, and sometimes, this affects one’s marriage or family life.
The Rocks and Pebbles Story
Betty Chypre was publishing a crafts show listings periodical years ago when we began to correspond by email and became friends. One day, she gave me a gift of her time by modifying a small graphic for me because I didn’t have the software to do it. In thanking her, I commented on how quickly she had done something I’d been trying to get someone to do for me for weeks. In replying, she said she had time for little jobs like this but not the bigger ones.
“It’s the old rocks-in-the-jar concept,” she wrote. “You may know the story: A professor put several rocks in a large jar, right up to the top, and asked his students, “Can I put anything else in here? They said no, but he was able to put in a handful of pebbles, which slid between the rocks. “Now, can I put anything else in this jar,” he asked, and again the class said no. But then he put in a handful of sand and, later, a cup and a half of water.
“The GIF I did for you was a ‘Pebble’ job,” Betty explained. “By grabbing it and putting it in the jar now (prioritizing), even though some of the rocks are in place, it can still get done. I can always make room for a pebble, or even a rock, for a friend.”
In closing, Betty added that she had a reservation at a free Microsoft seminar only 20 miles from her home, but passed on it because it was “too large a rock to squeeze into my jar that day.”
Stretched Too Thin
Lack of time plagued me from the moment I became self-employed. When Harry and I started Artisan Crafts magazine in 1971, I can remember always saying, “… but there just isn’t enough time to do it all!” Yet, when I launched my first subscription newsletter 11 years later (Sharing Barbara’s Mail, a companion to my first book, Creative Cash), I realized I must have had enough time after all because I certainly got a lot of things done. Maybe not as quickly as I would have liked, but done nonetheless. In my first newsletter editorial, I offered my new readers some advice about time which is one of my foundational business beliefs:
“I’ve never let lack of time stop me from doing anything, and neither should you. I believe that we only find time for special projects by simply beginning. Then, mysteriously, the needed time materializes—a direct reversal of the law that says work expands to fill the time available. In this case, it’s time that expands to make room for all the things we want to do.”
In my editorial a year later, I wrote: “Anyone reading this newsletter can see that we’re all leading up to something, and we share the same two problems: too little money and not enough time. But neither problem is enough to stop the person who is determined to succeed, and sooner or later each of us finds our way around both problems.
“But how do we beat the time problem? Since we all have the same number of hours to spend each day, our goal must be to make every minute count, and as we’re counting, we should reflect on what we’ve accomplished because that will encourage us to keep going.
Continuing, I suggested, “Maybe what we have to do is change our attitude about time, quit complaining about never having enough of it, and try to find more of it. How? We can get organized. Plan ahead. Learn to do two things at once. Study to improve skills and speed work processes. Move faster. Sleep less. In short, let’s use what time we do have in the most productive way possible and quit wasting time talking about our lack of time.
That Was Then—This Is Now
Perhaps some busy people today have widened their margins by finding bigger jars to hold more rocks and pebbles. Most everyone I know, myself included, seems to be trying to do more each day than their hours allow, so things that don’t get done one day have to be pushed to the next day, week, or month.
The “move faster, sleep less” advice I gave others in my youth no longer works for my older self, but getting organized and planning ahead does. I always have a to-do list on my desk so I know what I need to remember to do each day for the next two to three weeks. This lowers my stress and helps me plan each day. Yes, I often have to move an unfinished task a day or two ahead and print an updated list because life has a way of interrupting our best-laid plans.
Bit by bit, I’m simplifying the way I live and work so I can do this or that thing easier and quicker. For example, my new plan for simplifying the formatting and publishing process of my monthly Bulletins has greatly lowered my stress and given me several extra hours a month for my book writing.
If any of the above has given you a helpful perspective on how to better manage your time, will you drop me an email? And will you share one of your special tips on saving time? Till then, you might ponder these two time-related quotes:
“Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.” – Jean de La Bruyère
“The time we have at our disposal every day is elastic. The passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains.” – Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove
Recommended Articles
• Why You Never Seem to Have Enough Time. We feel pressed for time due to our own psychology, not just the tyranny of the clock.
• Do You Feel Like You Never Have Enough Time? 5 ways to leverage the psychology of time management.
• How I Find the Time for Doing Things That Matter. By being selective, I create space for activities that align better with my priorities.
• There’s More Than Enough Time When You Use The Time You Have. Principles that will empower you to make the most of every moment of your life.
First published as a Brabec Bulletin on May 7, 2025.
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