As much as I wish I could add an extra 5-6 hours to my days so that I could get more done, it’s just not going to happen. Sound familiar? Perhaps you can relate. Time, days, weeks, even years seem to fly us right by. There just never seems to be enough time to do all that we want to do.
I guess the first reasonable question to ask would be…. what is it that you want or need more time to do? Exercise? Read more? Spend more time with family and friends? Write a book? Start a business? Before even considering how you can potentially create more time for yourself and reading further into this post, ask yourself…..what do you want or need more time for? Don’t read any further until you have that answer. (WRITE IT DOWN)
Did you identify what you would like more time for? Good. Now that you’ve identified what you would like to have more time for, ask yourself why. So you want to lose weight, but why? You want to spend more time with you family and friends, why? You want to read more, why? You want to spend more time with you spouse or kids, why? You want to write a book or start a business, why? Identify your why before reading any further. Once you do, and only when you do can you continue reading. (WRITE IT DOWN)
Alright, now that you have identified what you would like more time for and why it’s important to you, let’s start creating some more time for ourselves daily to do more of the things we want to do.
Although I’m writing this post, I have to be honest with you and tell you I’m guilty as sin on some of these upcoming time killers I’m about to talk about here. It’s where time is lost forever, for many of us including myself. Let’s dive right into each one of them and tackle them head on and start creating more time for ourselves to do more of the things we want to do.
TIME KILLER #1 – SLEEPING
We all need our sleep, no question. Yes, it’s nice to sleep in, especially on the weekends. I’m not asking that you give up hours of sleep. 30-60 minutes of less sleep a day will contribute to increasing the amount of time in your day to do more of the things you want to do. You know what these things are and why they’re important to you and why you want to do them because you have them written down in front of you right? Are those not important to you anymore? Are they important enough to give up some sleep for? If not, then they must not be that important to you.
No One Looks Back On Their Life And Remembers The Nights They Had Plenty Of Sleep.
TIME KILLER #2 – WATCHING TELEVISION
According to several surveys that have been completed over the last several years, on average Americans spend 34 hours of our week watching television. Those numbers are astounding. What could you do with an extra 34 hours in a week? Perhaps that’s not your average TV watching time but whatever it is, decrease it. Watching television isn’t getting you any closer to losing weight, writing that book, spending more time with your spouse or kids (unless you consider that spending time together which is a whole different discussion), or getting that business plan written for that business you want to start.
I have to admit I am guilty here. I do not watch much TV but I do love my sports, especially during football season. I haven’t eliminated watching sports all together, I’ve just cut back which has given me a few extra hours a week to do more of the things I want and need more time for…… writing this post being one of those things.
If You Don’t Have Enough Time, Stop Watching TV.
TIME KILLER #3 – SOCIAL MEDIA
Well once again, I’m guilty here too. I check Facebook several times a day to see what’s going on, what’s been posted by friends and family such as funny videos and pictures. Hopefully I’m not the only one who does this. Complete time killer and waste of valuable time. What’s I’ve done and suggest you do as well is, do not keep Facebook open on your computer while at work and if your phone is your source for checking Facebook, commit to only checking it once in the morning to get your fix and then once in the evening. I know it’s tough especially with alerts showing you there’s a friend request or message awaiting you. Regardless, once in the morning, once in the evening…. that’s it. Same goes for all other social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
Focus On How To Be Social And Not On How To Do Social.
TIME KILLER #4 – PROCRASTINATION
Let’s admit it, we all procrastinate in one form or another. Social media is certainly a form or procrastination, surfing the internet, looking for something to eat, calling a friend, there are many forms of procrastination. Anything that is taking time away from you getting stuff done that you need to get done. How does decreasing procrastination add time to your day you ask? Well if there are things you need to get done in any given day before you can go and do the things you really want to be doing, you’re then limiting the time you have to do these things because you’re stuck doing the things you have to get done that you didn’t do earlier because you were procrastinating….. make sense? I hope so. Stop procrastinating, get it done, no excuses.
Never Leave That Til Tomorrow Which You Can Do Today.
So, still think you don’t have time to do more of the things you want? If you don’t have the time it’s because you’re not making the time. Take a look again at what you wrote down earlier, what you wanted more time for. What was it you wanted to do more of and why? If that’s truly what you want and what’s important to you, then you’ll make it happen and create the time. Look above, 4 different ways to make more time. Even if it’s just an extra 30 minutes a day. That’s an extra 3.5 hours a week, 14 hours per month, 168 hours a year. Imagine what you could do with all this extra time.
Time is free,
But it’s priceless.
You can’t own it,
But you can use it.
You can’t keep it,
But you can spend it.
Once you’ve lost it,
You can never get it back.
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
– Charles Darwin –
Great post with some good points made! I agree with you – it’s important to identify your goals and remember why its so important. While I’m guilty of all of these, acknowledging the culprit is a good start to being more productive in life. Keep it up!!
Thanks Kel! What you said is so very true. It’s one thing to identify your goals and another to understand the why behind them. Understanding the why is the key to successfully achieving our goals. It gives us reason, a purpose for why we do what we do. We’re all guilty of many of these including myself but like you said, acknowledgement is the first step.