How I Managed 6 Weeks without My Watch

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OK, you would think that managing without a watch for six weeks would be easy. We have clocks everywhere nowadays -- on our walls, on our phones, on our computers, in our cars, at the stores, at the gym. Well, this is how I managed six weeks without my watch and why this was such an issue for me.

Let me tell you a little about myself. When I was a teenager, I was always late about 15 minutes for everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Family gatherings, Friends' meeting up, etc.… It got so bad that my family members would call me to see what if I left so they knew what time I would get there. I bet you didn't think I was like this, a Professional Organizer, that was NOT punctual. Yes, that was me!

Then, I started working two jobs in high school. My bosses both told me that they didn't tolerate people coming in late, so I had to change my ways. I had to learn to allocate and watch my time throughout the day, whether it be traveling from job to job, school work assignments or running errands. That is when my watch became my new best friend. It came in handy. Back then, I had a watch that had an alarm setting. Cool for the 80's, right? I would set the alarm on my watch for when I needed to leave. It worked out nicely. I would get to work about 5-10 minutes early every time and was never late. The watch became my staple go to, to keep me on schedule and on time.

Flashback to now, I needed to get my watch repaired. They told me it could take up to six weeks. Just the words "six weeks" made me nervous. How am I going to manage my time for six weeks? Knowing I needed to get my watch repaired, I took a leap of faith that I could do it and gave them my watch. As I left the store, I thought to myself, Oh no, what have I done?

So, I went on with my day-to-day activity WITHOUT my watch. Day in and day out, I did my tasks, I took the kids to school, I worked with my clients virtually and at their office and mostly kept on time. I looked at my car clock, my phone, and various other clocks as reference points. When I was at the store, I even asked someone what time it was. (I haven't done that in over ten years.) It wasn't all roses, though. There were times I felt rushed and stressed because I needed to run an errand and only had 15 minutes till I needed to get to my next meeting. All, this time, wanting my watch was in the back of my mind. When I would look at it, it would remind me to leave a little earlier than I would have. Pre-plan where I needed to go before leaving. And, above all else, it would represent effective time management.

Five weeks past and I started getting used to not having a watch. Then, we were out to dinner, and my husband tells me his watch needs a new battery. He then pulls out his heart-rate monitor watch and says "I decided to use this one for the time being." It hit me like a ton of bricks, "DUUUHHHH! ALL, THIS TIME, I COULD HAVE BEEN USING MY HEART RATE MONITOR WATCH!" I broke down and started laughing uncontrollably. What was I thinking? Torturing myself this way. I could have used MY heart rate monitor watch. We had a great laugh, and I went home, and for my LAST week, I used my other watch.

On the sixth week, when they called to tell me my watch was fixed, I was elated. It felt like the heavens opened up and the sun was shining down on me again. OK, a little dramatic, but you get the idea. =) I went to pick up my watch with a big smile on my face. As I put the watch on, I thought to myself, hello, dear friend, I missed you.