“Time is the one commodity that he can’t buy more of.” said Lauren Jiloty from Gates Ventures of the main man, Bill Gates.
“He is on time to the minute, every single meeting without fail. Time is the one commodity that he can’t buy more of. It’s a limited resource. It’s finite. He’s got the same 24 hours in a day that the rest of us have.”
We all feel we don’t have enough time. However, we all have the same allocation of it, we just do different things with it. Granted some people like Mr Gates have an army of other people bringing their time to the equation, but the point is still valid.
When I work with people on things they want to achieve, big or small, I often ask “What do you see as your biggest challenge in achieving this?” Time is usually the star answer. I have started to notice that it’s often when people want to achieve something for themselves that time stands in the way.
If you need to do something for someone else, you make time for it. Someone is relying on you to deliver something, you do it. You have an appointment with a friend, doctor or colleague, you usually show up. You might move it, but that is because something else is a priority. No judgement, just fact. You have assessed something else to be more important.
Ask yourself a better question
So, all the things you want to do for yourself but feel you don’t have time for…
The two questions you could start asking yourself are:
“How important is this to me?”
“What will it give me?”
If the answer to the first question is “very important” then make an appointment with yourself to do it, and keep it.
Here are some examples for the second question:
- If I workout I will feel more energised.
- If I mediate it will calm me down.
- If I stick to my meal plan I will feel proud of myself.
- If I go to bed that little bit earlier I will wake up feeling like I want to workout…
Just a few examples but you get the idea. These are the things we compromise the most and then end up feeling bad about.
You deserve to fulfil this responsibility to yourself.
The Moveable List
Perhaps you are an avid list writer. Lists are a great way to manage our time but all too often we are great at writing the lists and not so great at ticking them off.
Does the time you allow realistically match the size of the task? You don’t want to get to the end of the day or week and feel disappointed with what you haven’t done. It’s often easier to chunck up the list into bitesized sections, daily, weekly monthly etc. Then you can prioritise. Don’t pack the list for today if it’s not realistic. Free yourself!
When we have a lot of time on our hands, that can be even tricker to manage, especially if you have no formal structure to your day, or your time is very much your own. Things that used to take a few minutes to do might suddenly stretch out to a few hours. Thats possibly because there were other things you had to do and now there isn’t the rush to complete to those tasks.
The important thing to remember, it’s your list! And for the really important items, you have those questions above.
Time Blocking
However you record your commitments which relate to other people, why not try doing it for yourself?
What works best for you? Put it in your diary. Get it on iCal. Set the reminder on your phone. Block time. Some of my clients use colour coded post it notes on the wall!
When the time comes, if you ignore the reminder or visual in your calendar you will start to question how important it is.
If you do need to re-arrange it, can you move it elsewhere in the day? Would that still benefit you?
When we miss something we often feel guilty and this is mega un-helpful. The physical act of moving it in your diary rather than ignoring it can make you feel better and you know you can still get it done.
My clients have found time blocking the “little” things to be hugely helpful. It either means they get it done, or de-prioritise it as not that important in the first place.
Either way, they are in control of it rather than time being an obstacle or something they then waste more time feeling guilty about.
Pro tip – find ways to celebrated your completed tasks. However that works best for you. You set it, you did it, thats a win in my book.
Make an appointment with yourself.
Keep it, reschedule it or get rid of it.
Either way, you deserve to take control of it.
Always happy to hear your thoughts on what works best for you!
Very best,
Natalie
PP.S Sometimes we just need simple boost to get back on track. The Friday Orange is my weekly email with 3 thoughts to amplify your purpose and performance. Sign up to The Friday Orange.
