What kind of time do you make?

We all say we'll make time for things that are important to us, but how often do you think about the type of time you make? 

An occasional source of stress for me is misjudging the type of time needed to accomplish a goal.  That goal might be having dinner with a friend, designing a system or umm...blogging.  I'll admit, this is not my first attempt at writing a blog.  Why have I failed in the past?  I assumed I could just "fit it in in between stuff".  My trail of discarded half-baked blogs speaks to how well that worked out...

I now realize that there is a big difference between "task time" and "creative time".  Some other terms I've heard for this distinction are "manager time" and "maker time".  Call it what you will...but you get the gist.

During "task time" I tend to focus on checking off "to do" items and am keenly aware of the next thing I need move on to.  It may be a series of meetings throughout the day, getting through my inbox or doing laundry.  I generally have a strong awareness of time passing and an approximate estimate of when I'll be "done".  Blocking out this sort of time generally means just allotting for it on the calendar.  Blocks of half hours and hours are usually productive and interruptions, while they might be annoying, aren't going to throw off my entire process.

"Creative time" (I'd really like to come up with a better term for this...) is time I'm spending adding value to my life.  It's when I'm unaware how much time has passed and get completely wrapped up in whatever goal or experience has my focus.  I'd imagine it's similar to athletes being "in the zone".  I'd like to think this extends beyond work-related activities to all aspects of my life.  Above I mentioned having dinner with a friend.  If I look at that experience as creating a strong, important bond in my life and using "creative time" to do that, I plan it in a whole different way than "grabbing a bite to eat."  I tend to focus on the quality of the experience, the conversation and become a much more active listener.  I tend to look at the food as a piece of the overall, but not as the main focus.  And most of all, I do my best to eliminate distractions and give my full focus to that experience.  One quick email check can throw my brain out of "dinner-friend immersion" into "how am I going to deal with that?" mode...and it's hard to truly shift back.  Regardless of the "creative time" context, an interruption can throw off the whole experience.

I'm not suggesting that all experiences need to be shoehorned into "creative time", sometimes meeting a friend for a quick bite at lunch while both of you are in semi-task-mode is fine.  As long as both parties understand that's what's going on.  I'm suggesting that too many people don't take a moment to step back and truly think and acknowledge the nature of how they choose to spend their time. 

It takes effort and a bit of discipline to acknowledge the need and "make the right kind of time", but in my experience it's well worth it.