Time Management

Today it’s all about time and commitment.

Time management and the importance of commitment.

There are books, upon books, upon books about this topic. If you walked into a bookstore you’d find shelves filled with them. Go on Amazon and you'll find so many amazing resources. While there's value in managing your time, I also want to explore the concept of managing yourself within time.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week. Yet how many of us have gotten to the end of our day and have said, Oh my gosh, there are not enough hours in the day to get it all done?

Yet there are other people out there that have the same 24 hours in the same seven days a week, and they accomplish so much. How do they do it? Well, they do it by being aware of how they're spending their time, by being aware of what's costing them time and by being aware of how they're wasting time.

And then they don't do those things.

We waste so much of our time on things that we’re unaware are costing us time.

We are going to take a look at the things that are costing us time and wasting our time. We are also going to explore how we're spending our time. Then we can make a decision as to whether or not that's what we want to do with our most valuable resource. That's what time is. It is a resource. I would argue one of our most powerful resources. It's a resource that once you spend it, you can never make more of it. Once it's gone, you can’t get it back. So let's be aware of how we're spending our time because if we know how we're spending time, what's costing us time, and how we're wasting it, then we can stop doing those things and get some of that time back.

It benefits us to take a look at the things we’re spending our time on. The things we are not deliberately choosing to do. Once we become aware of those things then we can decide if we want to stop doing them.

Top of the list for me is worrying. How many of us spend so much time worrying? Worrying provides no value. It brings nothing to the table. It's a waste of time. Worrying doesn’t do anything for you.

It's fine to think about what may happen or what may not happen, but many of us don't just stop there. We start to spin and play out the worst case scenarios in our brain. This is the stuff that freaks us out but never actually happens. What does happen though is we waste so much time worrying about ‘what if?’ Remember, worrying has no value, and it wastes so much time.

You know what else wastes a lot of time? Indecision. What about this? What about that? Have we thought about this and have we thought about that? It's analysis paralysis. We tell ourselves we can't make a decision because we need more information. I'm going to tell you something right now, you're never going to have all the information you want because … sometimes you just don't want to make a decision.

Now, I’m not saying you don’t want to make informed decisions. What I’m saying is get all the information you need to make the best decision you can. So many people keep looking for more information and more information and more information because they're afraid to make a decision. That’s because if they make a decision then they have to act. They have to do something about it. It’s so much easier for them to spin in indecision but that indecision wastes so much time and it gets you absolutely nowhere.

Next, if you’re not taking action, you’re wasting time. Inaction wastes a ton of time. We’ll talk about taking action. We’ll imagine ourselves taking action but we’re still not doing anything. There is value in talking about what you want to do and imagining you’re next steps but at some point in time you have to do something. You have to act.

Lastly, one of the ways that we cost ourselves time is by people pleasing. When we say yes to someone, to try to change how they feel about us, that is people pleasing. We can’t control how other people feel about us. So in essence, people pleasing is trying to control the uncontrollable. How do you think that is going to work out? We're saying yes to someone because even though we don't want to do it, we want to make them happy and we want them to like us.

Any time you say yes to someone, and no to yourself …you're costing yourself your own time.

So if we can pay attention to what's costing us time, where we're wasting our time and where we're spending our time, we can make decisions to do something else with that time.

You know the difference between someone who achieves their goals, and someone who doesn't? It comes down to one word … COMMITMENT.

If you are committed to achieving a goal chances are you'll get there. It may take some time. There's going to be some bumps and bruises along the way. You're going to fail. You're going to make mistakes. It's not going to be easy, but if you're committed to getting there, you're gonna get there. Because you're not going to stop until you do. You're committed to that goal.

And so I'm asking you to commit to planning.

Some people call it calendaring, others call it time blocking or batching time. I calendar every Sunday. That means I put everything on my calendar. If it is not on my calendar, it doesn't get done. If if it's on my calendar, it's as good as done.

This is how I get everything out of my brain and I stop spinning in all of the things that need to be done. If it’s on my calendar, I know it’s going to get done. How do I know it’s going to get done? Because I've planned it. And I to honor that plan. I’m committed.

I had a coach once tell me, for every hour you plan, you get back five hours you otherwise would have lost by wasting time. It's super valuable to plan.

The truth is a lot of people plan. They'll sit down, calendar or batch, but then when it comes time to actually do what they put on their calendar they don’t want to do it. And then they don't do it.

I'm gonna tell you right now … you're not going to want to do it!!!

When that project pops up on your calendar and you don’t want to do it … DO IT ANYWAY!

Do it anyway.

If it's on your calendar and you've committed to doing it then do it, even though you don't want to. I want you to know this … it’s perfectly normal for your brain to tell you not to do it. Expect that to happen!

I sit down on Sunday and I calendar. I download everything out of my brain that needs to be done for the week. Then I decide how long everything is going to take and I put all my appointments, to-do’s and tasks on my calendar. I guarantee you at some point that week I’ll have a task, an appointment or a project that I don’t want to do. It will pop up on my calendar and my brain will tell me to skip it, reschedule it or do something else instead. I KNOW that is going to happen every week. I plan for it so it doesn’t surprise me when it happens. Then, I do it anyway. By planning and honoring my calendar, I actually save myself so much time.

Another thing that people who get a lot done do is … they say no. When you say no, you're not wasting your time on obligations you haven't committed to. Just because you're invited to go somewhere, doesn't mean you have to go. Just because the phone rings, doesn't mean you have to answer it.

A lot of people think when somebody asks them to do something they need to say yes. You don’t have to. That doesn’t make you mean or selfish, it just means you are deliberate with your time.

N-O. Those two little letters are so powerful. And you don't have to explain why you’re saying no. When I say no, I usually follow it up with a, no thank you, or I'm unavailable and leave it at that. I know some of you are probably cringing right now and saying you can't do that. YES YOU CAN! It may take some practice and I can help you with that.

Once you're aware of what's costing you time and how you're wasting time, then you can stop doing those things. When you stop doing those things you have more time to do the things you want. Your day opens up.

If you make decisions,

you take action,

you plan,

you honor that plan,

and you say no,

you're gonna be amazed at what you can get done in any given day, any given week, any given month, any given year.

We tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year.

If you're deliberate and intentional, you're gonna blow your own damn mind AND THAT IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!