Creating More Time in Our Lives
“You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the magic tissue of the universe of your life. No one can take it from you. No one receives either more or less than you receive. Waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be withheld from you. Moreover, you cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into debt. You can only waste the passing moments. You cannot waste tomorrow. It is kept for you.”
―Arnold Bennett
When I first hear this quote read by the famous Jim Rohn, it struck a major chord with me. Time is such a special gift. Yet many of us go through life acting as though we have an endless supply. Every day I wake up and say thank you for the gift of another day. Tomorrow is not promised. Trust me, when you've survived a life threatening illness as I have, those words ring true.
So why is that ‘I’m so busy’ or ‘I just don’t have the time’ are memes that circle around in our lives? I’d love to share with you my top tips for avoid the ‘lack of time trap’ and the ‘I’m so busy’ badge.
6 Ways to Create More Time in Our Lives
1. Visualize your life in 3 years.
Are you letting every day pass you by as if it’s Groundhog Day? Or are you designing your life? What are you three big life goals in the next 3 years? Write them down. Post them where you can see them every day. Take a photo and make it your phone screen saver.
When we had a goal to move across the country by the end of the year (in 2017), I chose to act as if it was already done. How did I do this? As a huge Star Wars fan, I bought my tickets for The Last Jedi months ahead of time, while still living in Ontario. Where did I buy my tickets for? Since we were going to be living in BC by the end of the year, our tickets were for opening night in Langley, BC on Dec 15th 2017. We saw the movie on Dec 14 and moved into our home the next day!
2. Let it go and say no!
Take a good hard look at how you are spending your days. Is everything you are doing serving you? Do you enjoy what you’re doing at work, volunteering, coaching, with your kids, with your spouse, in your home? If not, let go or delegate those things that are not serving you. When we say no to things that aren't in alignment with our goals, we are making space in our lives to focus on the most important things. These most important things are the steps we take in order to move closer to our yearly goals.
3. Prioritize.
Go back to number one and figure out what are the most important things that I need to be doing TODAY to reach my goals in 3 years? If getting healthy is most important, then you've got to make time to exercise and cook real food. If freedom is most important to you, then you've got to make time to work on your plan to get you FREE.
The gift of time-freedom is probably the biggest gift I have from my network marketing business. If you’re in the biz, make time in your schedule to grow your biz so that you can be free too. Most of the freedom I enjoy today was from the hard work I did in my first 18 months in my business (13 years ago).
4. Leave the past behind.
You may feel bad that you've wasted so much time already. Since every day is a chance to start all over again, focus on the 24 hours you have been given every morning when you wake up. How are you going to make the BEST use of your time today? The best use of our past is the lessons we've learned. We know that we cannot change what has happened, so I encourage you to focus on the gifts from the past instead.
5. Mind your words.
Our thoughts become things. Most us are aware that we are creating our reality with our thoughts and our words. Make a decision to stop using ‘I’m so busy’ as an excuse. Learn to say no instead. ‘I don’t have time’ isn't actually real. Yes, we do have the time; we’re simply choosing to do other things instead. It's the combination of these daily choices that lead us to either have a life with more than enough time, or one with never enough time.
6. Keep a time journal.
How many of you have kept a food journal or spending journal before? A time journal is essentially the same thing, you’re taking note of what you’re doing throughout your day in 15 minute increments. And much like a food journal or spending journal, your habits will change simply by tracking what you’re doing. Laura Vanderkam has a great template for this in her book, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.
I challenge you to start creating more time in your life for doing the things you love, right now. The world needs more people who are living their passion and expressing their creativity in this world. I leave you with this final quote by Arnold Bennett.
“We shall never have more time. We have, and always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow.”