How do you FIND the time?

I believe that is the number one question I am asked, and the most common comment when I share my craftiness...
We are All working with the same allotment here:
60 minutes an hour
24 hours a day
7 days a week
(If you know of some other arrangement by which I can get More hours in a day, please - Share!!)
But you will notice that there are people (or perhaps You are that person) who never can "Find" time for things they profess to Love. Finding time to spend with loved ones or friends, finding time to get those To Do's Done, finding time to go to those great Places To See Before You Die, or just finding time for personal pursuits - reading, worship, exercise, and my Personal Favorite: Crafting.

I used to wonder, back in the days before I had even one of the two wonderful "time bandits" I now have (aka children), What are those people talking about?! Finding time - if you plan it right, you have almost Too Much time! Hah... Thoughtless naivete of the Single Girl.
Even with the best plans, there really never is Enough time for Everything! Between work and family, and that old standard Sleep, really - Everything? EVERY thing? Now, if time ran in a circle and we spun pirouettes till the end of days, there would still never be time for Everything...Bills, groceries, Doctors visits, family celebrations, Holidays, sick time, play time, calm time, nap time, charity, social, and community events... the list is never ending of things that will at some point or another "steal" away that time you have.
But these words we use kind of point to the real culprit:
Find
Steal
Lose
these are all passive "it happened to me" kind of words... Where is your control, your decision, your power? Do you wear the watch, or does it wear you? And by Everything - what are we really describing there?
Granted, there are definitely things that will use some of that precious allotment with no substitutions: you have to eat, you have to rest, if you have children you have to meet their needs for food and rest (and love :-), you have to keep a roof over your head, and clothes on your body. There are definite "musts" that will always trump Craft Time.
But really - the majority of your time use is left to your own discretion. You choose to commute to work a certain way - public transit or driving. You choose to log onto Facebook and YouTube and see the latest updates or hot videos. You choose to spend hours looking for just the right outfit at just the right store at the mall. You choose to gab on the phone with that friend you never really liked anyway. You choose to maintain a Home & Garden show house. You spend hours watching TV. You spend hours (yes, it will add up to hours, if you were to really log the time you spend on your daily activities) a week on activities that do not feed your soul or further your agenda of "important to me" items. I know - ask me what level Farmer I am :-) or how many movie or book reviews I have clicked through, or take a gander at how many Tweets I post a week....
But: if I choose to relax and connect with friends, if I choose to get a cup of coffee after work, or choose to catch the latest Sesame Street with the kids, or choose to stop at the park on the way home from Target... I choose to Not spend that time crafting.
Essentially it boils down to this:
You Choose how you spend your "free" time.

Challenge your Choices:
  • Take out a sheet of paper and write down your top priorities, put them in matter of importance to your personal well-being. Prioritise your priorities
  • keep a log of how you spend your time for a week : click here for a great explanation and How To of How to Keep a Time Log
  • At the end of the week, take a good long look at that log. Add up how much time you spend on your priorities. Add up the times spent on the most common items.

Are your priorities getting their deserved allotment of those precious minutes we have each day? Why not? What can you do about that?

Now if they were asking

"How do you MAKE time to craft?!"

that is a whole 'nother story!!

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