Yes, I understand we are all pretty overwhelmed, pretty busy, have more things to do than we have time.
I want to suggest our perception is not reality however. Think of time as being delivered to you in chunks - 5 seconds here, 4 hours there, 5 minutes in another place. When you say - or even think - that "I don't have time." what are you thinking about? You don't have five seconds or you don't have 4 hours?
I think it's pretty safe to say we have lost the war of hours. To ask someone to commit hours is a major request today. So let's do battle with the minutes. Do you have a minute? The fact is, if you read this far you already invested a minute, right?
Simple community is spending time with family, friends and neighbors in enjoyable activity that revives us. To revive that kind of community in America takes time - but not the kind of time you will naturally think about. When I ask you to invest in reviving community, I am asking you to take five minutes here and there, not 60, and not 3 hours.
I am convinced, and have proof, that those who intentionally decide to do more neighborly things that take five minutes or less will discover benefits far beyond the cost of the time spent. Not only that, the five minutes invested in relationships has two added benefits:
- Once you intentionally invest five minutes a few time you will realize how important and valuable it is to you to have those connections. It will get you to wonder if community shouldn't be a higher priority than it has been. I know this one personally!
- You will discover you find even more time in your life to do the things that are more rewarding in life. If you are currently a low-calorie community type you may fear even five minutes is a waste. Once you experience the benefits you will be amazed how much time you have.
In my work with the NCAA developing college community the biggest concern raised over and over again is there just isn't time to do community programs. I once talked to an athletic director who now has a very involved community engagement program with 12 people on campus regularly working to support it. I told him "but I thought nobody has time to do this, and you have 12 people?" He said: "Rich, you always have time for things that work."