Personal development

It’s not more time you need…

As a coach one of the phrases that I often hear from clients is ‘I don’t have the time’ as they speak about the things that they know they ‘should’ do but never seem to get around to.

Often these are the things that, by their own admission, would make a significant difference. Examples are things like keeping fit, more time with close family, or working ‘on’ their business rather than just ‘in’ it.

But isn’t time is the one thing we all have common? Whatever advantages or disadvantages you consider you or anyone else has-whether it’s money, education, resources, talents, or relationships, what we all have in equal measure is time. It’s our most precious resource. You cant’ make more, it relentlessly moves on, and your allocation is going down. So how come only a small minority seem to be able to achieve all they want and still seem to have plenty of time to enjoy life?

Let’s look at wasting time. I just went on the internet and searched around and several sources suggest the average adult spends four hours per day watching television. Some TV is great but four hours per day!!! When people get to the end of their days and look back has watching 9 years of television really been where it’s at?

Another one is e-mail. I thought computers were supposed to save time but they’ve created one of the biggest time wasters of all.

Conversely, I don’t believe that effective ‘time management’ is about cramming in more and more. Evidence suggests that many people are already living very stressful lives so adding in even more activities to a busy schedule isn’t going to help. So what is the answer?

Do what’s important to you. The essence of creating a life that you love is simply doing what’s important. The real question then becomes ‘what is most important?’ not ‘how can I find more time?’

I’ve got a 5 year old son. Lately, he’s been coming into my office and saying ‘daddy, will you come and play with me?’ I found myself saying ‘I’m busy right now, maybe later’, on several occasions. This thought saddens me. My Dad died when I was young and before I ever really got to know him. He worked a lot. I now spend more time with my children.

How many people say ‘Where am I going to find time to keep fit?’ Like being unfit is going to make the rest of my life so much better. Well, about three hours a week will keep most people in good shape if used properly. That’s only 75% of the average person’s daily intake of television!

In his book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective people’ Stephen Covey calls one of the habits ‘putting first things first’. He describes spending more time on what’s important but not urgent. These are things like planning ahead, time with loved ones and looking after yourself. It’s putting your values, your goals and the things that matter first. It’s about creating the right balance.

To do this we have to learn to say ‘no’ more often. ‘No’ to activities, people and situations that waste our time. ‘No’ to those things that can seem attractive but really aren’t important. Our natural impulse is to take the path of least resistance but to become more effective we have to be more conscious of ourselves in these moments.

In the book ‘The Road Less Travelled’ by M. Scott Peck he says ‘Life is Difficult’. What’s difficult is thinking. Thinking ahead. Thinking about consequences. Thinking about which road to take in any given moment. The path of least resistance or the road less travelled?

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