Time is a sacred thing, but we all have exactly the same amount of it, yet some people seem to be able to do so much more with their time - why is that?
The key to getting more time is to manage the time you have better.
We all have 24 hours in a day, and 168 hours in a week.
We all have to do certain things that take time - i.e. Lets say you spend an average of 8 hours mon-fri at work, 7 hours sleep every night, 2 hours for cooking and eating a day, 1/2 hour each way commute mon-fri, and 1/2 hour a day washing, 1/2 hour a day cleaning the house. These are what most of us have in general terms. They add up to 115 hours a week. Leaving 53 hours!
53 hours - thats huge. Thats a whole extra working week and then some more! Think of what you could do if you really utilised these hours.
We are told to spend 3 hours a week exercising at a minimum, lets say we have children and spend 3 hours a day quality time with them on average, we all need shopping time for food and essentials, say 3 hrs, and we have relaxation time of 1 hour a day as well. These are still fundamentals to living your life, and add up to another 34 hours.
STILL leaving 19 hours. Taking out everything else in your life, you could gain an extra 19 hours on things that develop you as a person, things that are important to you, and things that will make you happy. These things need to be looked at - what are you doing with your time now? are you aware of your personal goals? is what you are doing helping you on your way to achieving those goals?.
Quantifying them in this way will really make you aware of how much time you are wasting each day. I was surprised to find out how much time i actually had, even when i put in everything i felt was necessary to do each week.
Everyones list of things will be different - but the key is to work out what items in your week are essentials to living, and what time you then have for your priorities.
Priorities - what could you choose?
Here are some examples:-
1. Start a business
2. Go back to school
3. Learn a new hobby (sport, musical instrument, language)
4. Earn a second income
5. More family time
6. Volunteer work
7. Travel
the list is literally endless.
However, if you don't spend time thinking about what is important to you, when you are asked to do things on a day to day basis in your life, how will you know whether you are heading towards or away from your goals? It is a great tool to help you be able to say NO when you need to - as it really identifies what it is you are spending your time on, and whether thats right for you.
If you want a really hard hitting way of working out what your priorities are, think about what you would want said at your funeral - what would you want to be remembered as?
Take a minute today to look at your life - are you happy? Do you have enough time for everything you want to do? Are you working towards your priorities?
Take one action after this that helps you on your way to achieving the life you want - whether it be taking something out of your existing schedule, or adding in a new task that will get you one step closer to your dreams - take control of your own life, and you will find the time for what matters.
And always remember that priorities can change as we develop, so we need to regularly come back to the list we make, and alter accordingly. It is when people don't keep an eye on their priorities and goals that they feel that life is passing them by, that they are bystanders looking at others enjoying their lives but not able to change, which can lead to losing yourself in the day to day minutae of life. Living like this will wear you down. Imagine your life as you want it to be - and GO FOR IT!!!!! I intend to.......
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