Our first waking thought of the day is “I didn’t get enough sleep.” The next one is “I don’t have enough TIME.” Before we even sit up in bed, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. This mind-set of scarcity lives at the very heart of our jealousies, our greed, our prejudice, and our arguments with life. That is wisdom from The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist.
The number one excuse that people use for why they haven’t accomplished what they wanted to, is they were too busy, or they don’t have enough TIME. The constant, unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do in the future, is the single largest consumer of TIME and energy.
Saying you are too busy or you don’t have enough TIME is usually an excuse or a lie. I’m not saying that we don’t have a lot going on in our lives. Some of us definitely do. But if you really look at where you spend your TIME, you will see that you are probably wasting TIME, spending it on chores or mindless activities, and not making TIME in your day for what you actually want to be achieving. “You will never ‘find’ TIME for anything, if you want TIME you must make it,” said Charles Buxton.
The most valuable asset we have is TIME. It’s the one thing we literally can’t get more of. If TIME is so valuable, it’s important that we understand what we currently use TIME for. I challenge you to make a chart where you break your day into 30 minute sections, and for a day, or better yet a whole week, track everything that you are spending your TIME on. Include driving, eating, talking, thinking, phone usage, Netflix, and sleeping.
On some days when I look at this exercise, I am exhausted just reading everything I accomplished. But other days, I have to admit to being surprised, and frankly embarrassed with how much TIME I wasted. When you consider how you spent your day(s), what are your thoughts about how you spent your TIME? Write them down. If you could go back and redo the day(s) and spend your TIME better, what would you do differently, and why?
The truth is, most of us don’t live our days deliberately. We live unconsciously and let the day slip away without using anything to manage our TIME. We look up and the day is gone.
Now I want you to imagine that tomorrow is your last day. You only have 24 hours left. How would you spend your day? Write down in detail and examine what you would create with your most valuable 24 hours.
There is so much to learn from comparing how you spend your TIME, versus how you would spend it if it was your last day. While you can’t live each day like it was your last, you can see from this exercise what you could be doing if you were more deliberate with each day. When you intentionally plan your TIME you can create a more fulfilling life, instead of haphazardly letting your day get away from you.
Here are the main ways we cost ourselves TIME: worrying, buffering, people pleasing, indecision, confusion, judging ourselves and others, regretting, and being overwhelmed. If you could eliminate these things from your life, you would be blown away by how much TIME you would have left over.
The people who get more done don’t spend TIME, waste TIME, or lose TIME. They are very deliberate with their TIME. They make decisions, take action, plan, honor their plan, constrain, learn by failing and say no.
The best way to make TIME is to use your TIME to create the life you want. If you designed an ambitious goal for 2021, you will need to plan and calendar TIME in order to achieve it. Don’t wait for outside emergencies and challenges to wake you up, start living intentionally today.
Next week I will go into detail on one system that really works for TIME management. In the meantime, be sure to track how you spend your TIME for at least one full day or for the week. Also write down what you would do in detail if you only had 24 hours left. This will put you in the right mindset to get down to business next week.