Time is our most precious resource. You cannot ever create more and, once it is gone, you cannot get it back. We have 24 hours a day, 168 hours in a week and 8760 hours in a year, but how many years we have is unknown and limited. This is not intended to be morbid, but to open your eyes to the fact that you can never create more time, but you can look at where you are spending it now.
We make careful decisions around how we spend our money (some of us more than others) but how often do we sit back and consider the time cost of our activities and commitments to decide if they are worth the investment of our time.
While we may regularly say we don’t have time, generally if something is a priority for us or urgent, there is always a way to find time. This can be done in a healthy or unhealthy way. Cutting back on the time spent sleeping or for recreation is often first step, which longterm will impact your wellbeing, but are there other ways you can ‘make’ time
This week Shaun and I compared the weekly screen time on our phones, neither of us were happy to see how much time we had spent on our phones. Our devices can become huge time sucks, taking a few minutes here and there, adding up to hours a day. How often have you picked up your phone to check a notification and spent the next hour scrolling through social media? We have both promised to be more mindful of our screen time to see what impact this can have on our perceived lack of time.
My beautiful grandmother gave me the advice when my daughter was a baby to sit on the floor and play with her and that everything else can wait. She was so wise. I try to live by this as much as I can, the time when they are babies and want to play is so limited and comes to an end very quickly. I do not regret a single minute I have spent playing games or building Lego and I certainly don’t regret the loads of washing or cleaning that had to wait.
We often overestimate what we can do in an day, but underestimate what can be done in smaller periods of time. Five or ten minutes of focussed effort can produce amazing results and these results compound over time. You may not be able to find an hour for an activity, but you may be able to get started with five or ten minutes. I find this approach can build great momentum and lead to fantastic long term results.
Next time you find yourself stressed, unable to do something or progess due to a perceived lack of time, take a moment to look at where your time is going to and ask yourself, how can I make this a priority? Also you have 288 five minute blocks in a day, where can you find five minutes to get started?
Be careful with your time and spend it on what matters for you.
Xo
Jo