Thoughts about…

Time Management

A month ago, one of my neighbor friends asked if I had begun my summer job.

At the time I hadn’t so she said, “Oh, you must be bored by now.”

Me, bored?

Black-Headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus). May 10, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

I raised an eyebrow at the statement. “I still have a couple decades’ worth of projects yet to complete,” I replied. “So, I’m good to go.” I added a laughing emoji because we were communicating via text, but I was serious.

It’s safe to say that I haven’t been bored in decades. But as I considered her statement, I did recall that while growing up one of my catchphrases was, “Mom, I’m bored.” I’m sure my mother can confirm that. I imagine, though, that I’m not unique in this respect as I suspect most kids tend to bore easily.

Audubon’s Warbler (Setophaga coronata ssp. auduboni). May 11, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

As an adult, however, I believe that boredom is an affront to the living. There’s so much access to information, learning opportunities, and diverse experiences that being bored in this day and age is unfathomable to me.

All of that said, I completely understand the inherent challenge of having too much time on your hands for far too long. This challenge often takes the form of diminishing returns. This is to say that if you don’t stay focused your creativity and production can dwindle exponentially when faced with a surplus of time and no real deadlines looming over you.

Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus, female). May 13, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

For those of you who don’t personally know me, I’ve led a relatively unorthodox life. For many years I’ve maintained a low overhead which has afforded me a lot of time to work on personal projects. This is because I’ve never been married, don’t have kids, don’t have a mortgage, and have rarely held a traditional full-time job. When I turned 17 and enlisted in the US Marine Corps, it was like I declared to the universe that from there on out I’d be walking a path less traveled.

Mind you, I never set out or had the intention of leading some revolutionary or counterculture-type lifestyle. I simply wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I embraced the process of discovery in an effort to figure out what inspired and motivated me. And I wanted to take whatever I did as far as it needed to go.

That last bit is the most critical element. In other words, time has always been the most valuable thing to me. For without enough time, you can’t accomplish very much and your experiences lean toward the superficial.

Ring-Necked Duck (Aythya collaris). May 19, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

I don’t mean to imply that you have to take everything you do to the umpteenth degree. But nearly everything in life can yield far richer results when studied in an immersive context (i.e. going all in). And, obviously, this takes time.

But time alone is not enough. Having a lot of time on your hands doesn’t guarantee you’re going to accomplish anything meaningful or large-scale. To spontaneously hand a person two or more months of unstructured time can be a nightmare to some people. Not everyone operates on the same frequency. Some people need to schedule their day by the hour, while others prefer a more flexible routine.

The bottom line is that time and time management need to go hand-in-hand if you want to make the most of this lifetime.

This little House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) has taken up residence in my neighbor’s backyard, so I’m treated daily to its beautiful singing. You can hear its song in the background of my audio transcription of this essay beginning at about the 4-minute mark. May 21, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

For me, these past couple of months have been routine. The California shelter-in-place order hit at about the same time as the spring “shoulder” season at Lake Tahoe (i.e. the time between winter and summer tourism). So, normally I would’ve been out of a job between March and May anyway, and working on all of the projects I neglected over winter.

In some respects, I’ve become an expert on time management. Yes, I can hear all of my friends chuckling because to know me is to know that I’m a few minutes late to nearly everything I do. I attribute this to my constant attempt at trying to stuff too many things into too small of a space.

But, to me, time management has little to do with punctuality. Rather, it involves knowing how best to schedule your time in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. This is applicable whether you have an hour or a year of free time with which to work.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). May 26, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

So, my expertise in time management lies less in administrative capacities and more in conceptual planning. Essentially, I’ve just learned to pace myself over the long-term so that I’m consistently producing quality work and/or having meaningful experiences.

There’s a natural ebb and flow when it comes to inspiration, creativity, and (subsequently) productivity. You must learn to recognize the appropriate times during the creation of a project, goal, or experience when it’s necessary to hit the gas or pump the brakes. For example, if you treat the marathon like a sprint, you risk burnout early in the event. Or if you act as if you have all the time in the world, you’ll never feel the sense of urgency required to actually bring a thing to its completion.

Lastly, yet no less critical, is simply knowing when a thing is done. One brushstroke too many causes a painting to look tired and overworked. So I prefer to stop one or two brushstrokes early, leaving something to the viewers’ imagination. Everyone loves to spot potential. Few people celebrate what could’ve been.

Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra, female). This is the first documented sighting of a Summer Tanager at Lake Tahoe. There have been documented sightings in Truckee, CA, and Carson City, NV (both near Lake Tahoe), but not at Lake Tahoe until I photographed and posted it on May 26, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

I admit that soon after the brief conversation I had with my neighbor I was, in fact, beginning to lose steam. Even a seasoned pro like me who routinely has lots of time to myself was losing focus and struggling to finish projects. Over the years, I’ve found that there are few things more frustrating than having time at my disposal but no motivation to accomplish anything.

Fortunately, my summer job began soon after the conversation. Now I’m back to having a set schedule that will last through September. I appreciate this transition back to having a predictable routine with a defined end-date because it motivates me to use my current free time (which is a lot less than the past few months) more wisely. And, at the same time, I can begin to plan some larger projects for when the summer comes to a close and I’m faced with my usual 2-month break between jobs that yields no income but lots of time to get shit done.

Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri). May 31, 2020. Copyright © 2020 Jared Manninen

Has this spring’s shelter-in-place order caused you to go stir crazy?

Or, has it given you the chance to deal with some long-neglected projects?

Post your thoughts in the comment section below.

Here’s an article I wrote with trail data for hiking around Tahoe Meadows on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Last year, I hiked here a couple of times in order to spot new wildflowers for the Tahoe Wildflower Big Year 2019.

Click the image to read the article.

Below are some designs I uploaded to my RedBubble account that feature Northern Flickers. You’ll probably recognize the two images on either side as they were last month’s newsletter header image. Again, if there are photos and images of mine that you’re interested in buying as prints or on other available merchandise, let me know!

Click an image to view the design and its corresponding product availability.

Thanks for being a part of my life. Until next time…

-Jared Manninen

Tahoe Trail Guide is an online magazine for sharing my knowledge about hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing, as well as information about traveling to (and through) the Lake Tahoe region. I refine that information for a younger audience and produce it in a printed format under the title Wilderness Activity Books. Lastly, Tahoe Swag is a collection of art and design products I create based on my love of the outdoors and appreciation for Lake Tahoe.