There is one big lie that we tell ourselves, “If only I had a HUGE block of time, I would do X.” The reality is that our
culture, whether we are employed or self-employed is that we rarely have a huge block of time to anything.
It’s time to change our thinking.
It’s time to consider how to be masterful with smaller chunks of time.
The lie that we are living keeps us from using the time we do have. If we put off – writing that book inside us, starting the dream business, launching that women’s retreat — we tell ourselves that we cannot start those BIG dreams, because we don’t have enough time.
Here is the reality.
We have a patchwork quilt of time segments each day. You may think of it in 15 minute segments or in hour segments. We choose to either waste a segment of time or not.
As an author of three published books and working on the next one, I hear over and over, “I just don’t have the time.” Neither do I, but I did it. Three times. About to be a fourth.
I look at time – on an every day basis – very carefully. It is how I am wired. I am clear that I have choices to make. Do I make bad choices on how I use my time? YES! Do I make good choices on how I use my time? YES!
The universal truth about time is that once a time segment is gone….we cannot get it back. Truth.
Think of time segments as a daily game of small blocks, progress and momentum.
Remember the child’s game of Chutes and Ladders. The ideal spot to land on early in the game is the square that takes you on the BIG SLIDE, with the shortcut, eliminating many squares. If you miss that one square and move on, you may have the opportunity of landing on another square that has some smaller shortcut ladders. The goal of the game is to reach the top final square before anyone else does.
Do you think of your day as small squares of time that allow you to progress and gain momentum?
Do you occasionally find the ladder (a lucky break, introduction to the right person, the person who joins your team with the needed skill set) that advances your day, your life or your business.
Do you occasionally hit that square that takes you back a few spots.? The old saying of I go forward three steps then back two.
Our culture wants us to do more in less time. Faster. Quicker. Sped-up. Warp speed. Multi-task.
The reality is that leads us to mental fatigue. Or the thought of, “I cannot add ONE more thing to my plate. If I do, my head will explode.”
I believe what we really want that “time” for is to allow ourselves to think deeply as to what matters to us. We want to listen to the quiet voice inside of us, and to cast aside the shallow self that shows up everyday as the “I can get it all done” self. The productive unit.
The subset to the big lie is that if I don’t have time to listen, then I do not have to take responsibility to start that book, that new business, or schedule that women’s retreat.
The “if I had the time” lie stops us on the board game. We might move forward a few spaces each day, but we will be unable to land on that square that allows us to leapfrog over all those other squares.
My life changed with the first book I published. I saw myself differently. Others saw me differently.
I was grateful that I had pieced together the small steps/squares that it took to create the patchwork quilt.
I substituted time that I could have been watching tv, doing other things.
You can too. Ask yourself, “What needs to change?”