One of the things we all have in common is 24 hours in each and every day. No one has less, and no one has more. Often when we hear the phrase time management, people associate it with working, being productive and efficient. The truth is time management, or may we refer to it as managing your time, is something we need in all areas of our life.
I often work with people who claim they never have enough time in the day. And what they never have time for are the things that would benefit them and help them achieve a rich and meaningful life. Things for self go on the back burner, work and family take priority.
Without exception every person I have worked with, who claims to have not enough time in in their day, actually does. They are applying their allocation of time to the things that are sometimes not important or necessary, which is by default procrastination.
I love doing an audit of people’s time. It is always a surprise when they realise how much time they actually do have; to do all the things that are necessary and also important to them and their well being.
I recall working with one guy who felt that his life was not on track, and the one thing he needed to do that would get him there, he couldn’t, he was adamant that there was no time.
First we discussed in detail what this “thing” was. I asked him to apportion time to each of the components and to be generous. After doing this we did an audit of his existing life activities from; sleeping, work, reading, meditation, exercise, and taking out the trash. There was over 30 activities. After listing everything he needed and wanted to get done in a day, week and month (being generous with time). He realised that he had a lot of spare time, more than enough to get this “thing” done within a six week timeframe.
What he discovered, and this is a standard revelation for most, is that there is enough time. Sometimes we may need to make small adjustments for a short period in order to have the long term gain. What was holding him back was not lack or time or motivation, it was fear. What if I do this thing and it works out? What if it doesn’t? What do I do when it works out? What do I do if it doesn’t? Helping this man overcome his fear, enabled him to take the necessary steps to complete this task. After a successful resolution he asked the question – why didn’t I do it sooner? The answer is fear.
There is one thing that is true in this life, fear can stop us achieving all that we would like to achieve, and all that we are capable of. But what if for one moment you believed with absolute certainty that you could, wouldn’t it be worth it? Wouldn’t you do it?
Don’t you also find it interesting that how we manage out time can also be driven by fear?
