“In last week’s pre class discussion for the Program for Online Teaching Certificate Class I kind of jumped on someone in the chat who said “I do not have time to blog”. I was probably kind of rude, but I refuse to buy that as an excuse. It’s a copout.”
When I first read this, I wanted to jump up and down and applaud. It is so great to see that someone else says what I think!
But I don’t feel that this applies to just blogging. I think it applies to whenever someone uses the excuse of “I don’t have time to…” do whatever it is that I am doing. I would much rather have people say what they really mean which is more on the track of “I don’t want to do that.”
I think everyone makes time to do the things that they really want to do. This is part of being an adult in the grown up world. We learn to make appropriate choices and with these decisions we also learn to prioritize so we can do the things that need to be done.
We all take time to eat. It is a necessary thing for survival. Sometimes I hear people say that they don’t have time to eat but eventually their own bodies will force them to make the time to eat. I have even heard new teachers (yes, I was one of these too) that say they don’t have time to go to the bathroom. Well, after a few kidney infections (yes, that was me too!), new teachers will learn to make time or the results might not be very pretty.
When my husband and I got married, we talked about how we loved to travel. We made the time to include travel in our lives. This meant making sacrifices in other areas but it is a choice that we made because travel was important to us. Over the years, so many people told me how lucky we were to be able to travel because they didn’t have the time to travel. Well, we had the same 24 hours that they did each day. It isn’t like God magically added more time to our day than other people’s day. It is just that we chose to spend our time in this way and other people choose to spend their time differently.
So, this is to teachers who use the excuse of “I don’t have time to:
· Learn new technology.
· Blog.
· Build a professional learning network.
· Learn new strategies for the classroom.
· Learn something new.
· Build relationships.
· Nurture old relationships.
· Eat better.
· Exercise more.
· Live a healthier lifestyle.”
I have to agree with Alan. This is just a sorry excuse for not saying what you really mean. You really mean, “I don’t want to.” It goes back to taking responsibility for our own actions. By saying you don’t have the time, puts the responsibility somewhere else (who knows where but not on yourself) even though that is untrue. By owning up to not wanting to do it means you have to accept the responsibility for your own life.
Think about the last time you said that you didn’t have the time to do something you really wanted to do. Think of ways that you can change your life in order to make the time to do this. If you really want to do something, you will find that time. Of course it may mean that you have to sacrifice something else to do this but those are choices you have the ability to make. If you have too much on your plate, maybe it is the right time to reevaluate the things that you are committed to doing. Maybe it is time to step back and cut out some of the things you don’t enjoy doing or aren’t really necessary. Maybe it is time to have the courage to face up to others and tell them, “I don’t want to do this anymore because I want to make time to do something else I really want to do. “
Image: 'Me In Time'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25704219@N04/3821120232
Found on flickrcc.net
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