While a common complaint, this blog post title is misleading. If you’re telling yourself that you don’t have time, you’re lying. We have enough time to do anything we choose because we manage our own time.
We invented time.
Long ago, we created these yardsticks to tell us where to start and stop our day. Minutes, hours, days, months, years are all figments of our imagination. Yet, we’ve become so beholden to those finite measures that now we limit ourselves by them.
When we think we lack time, it becomes our reality. Our jail cell.
We’re always doing something with our time. We’re choosing an action in every moment. To sit still, to move; to fight, to forgive; to gain, to lose.
At the end of the day, most would say they fit in what they absolutely “needed” to.
But if we create time, and we choose what we do to fill that time, don’t we have all the power? We don’t have to let time rule over us, right?
Right. If you think otherwise, you’re looking at time all wrong.
It’s not a matter of ticking seconds that dictate whether you have enough space to complete all that you wish to complete. It’s a matter of what you’re choosing to fill the space.
You always do everything you want to do, despite feeling like some things are not getting done.
When you choose to go to work, you leave little room for other things during that timeframe. You want to get paid, so you go to work.
When you choose to go to the gym, you sacrifice that timeframe for fitness. At the end of your workout, if you’re tired, you’re choosing to sleep through the night rather than do something else.
To cure the no-time-havin’ blues, try looking at what you’re spending your time doing. Then, declutter what you want to do less of, and you’ll see time expand to fit anything you want to do more of. Like magic.
Kind of like when you don’t want to wash dishes, so you choose to watch TV. Less dishes, more TV. (Doesn’t mean there wasn’t enough time to do dishes.)
Here’s a quick 5-minute strategy to help you choose what to do when you “don’t have time to do anything.”
1. Evaluate What You Want To Do
What do you want to do? Picture in your mind what you’re planning on doing; pick one action item. Think about what it involves and what it will look like when complete.
2. Evaluate Why You Want To Do It
Why do you want to do it? Look deeply at the intended action and briefly explain the emotional and energetic implications behind it.
3. Evaluate When You Want To Do It By
When do you have to get it done by? Any goal or action item usually comes with a end in sight, a deadline. Get an idea for when you would like it to be completed.
4. Evaluate How You Want To Do It
How will it get done? Consider all the steps, skills and systems to get to the end and call it complete.
5. Evaluate Who It Is For
Who benefits from this action? Put another way, who will be disappointed if you don’t do it? Take a hard look at this one. It helps to gauge the importance and urgency (a.k.a. value) of an action by who it is meant to serve.
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Spend 1 minute on each question above. Evaluate before you get tied up in all the doing. (This becomes a 5-second strategy the more you use it.)
This self-inquiry will lead you to decision. Use it to help you say Yes or No to an event invite or new project.
More insight will arise. Am I inspired to take action? Is this the right time for this action item? Am I the right person for it? Should this be delegated? Who delegated it to me and why? Is this an arbitrary deadline causing me stress, and offering me no real value in the end?
You’ll come up with the best step to take; a strategy, an idea, a partner, a teammate, even a contractor to get it done.
When you’re clear on what, why, when, how and who, all the pieces fall into place.
Every thing gets its time. Every thing gets done.
But you just might decide not to do it all.
Originally published at declutterist.com. Find out more from author here: