Are you controlling time, or is time controlling you? We all have the same 24 hours in a day right? Why are some people soaring and others struggling? What is the difference in their lives?
The only way we can truly master time
is to Master ourselves.
Time truly is a gift. So many of us take it for granted, instead, we should always be thankful. Thankful for every minute we have is a gift. We think about these things when we lose someone. We should be thankful that we had every minute with them that we were allowed, as it was a gift. We should also absolutely live life to the fullest at all times for those who have gone before us or those who can’t for whatever reason. How do we master time? We master ourselves. How do we master ourselves? 100% awareness of all things we do with our time.
When we become aware,
We become responsible.
When we become responsible
We make changes.
The best way to master our time is to schedule it. We need to schedule in our “Have to’s”, “want to’s” and our “need to’s”. It is equally important to make sure we have as much fun in our schedules, as we have work and definitely make time for refueling. Our lives could be split into 5 categories, family time, fun time, work time, self-time & sleep time.
Family time: Spending quality time with family, hiking, vacations, day trips, playing games- pure interaction- not on phones or gadgets, or vegging out on tv.
Fun time: Games, hiking, vacations, hobbies, sports, movies, going out, roller coasters. Whatever it is, make sure it puts a smile on your face for days! Do these things with friends or your significant other.
Work Time: Working at work, on the work that you are supposed to be working on! Haha, I know.. tough one…. Procrastination station needs to be shut down. We are all guilty trust me! I am the conductor of that train!
Self Time: Reading, meditation time, prayer time, self-development time, spa days, bubble baths, exercise.
Sleep Time: Quality Sleep, which means winding down properly before bed so your not awake tossing and turning, waking up with time to stretch and say some gratitude affirmations or thank God for the day. Go for 8 hours, remember tomorrow starts whether you have had 3 hours or 8 hours of sleep. Get up at the same time every day and that will teach you to go to bed earlier.
Early to Bed, Early to Rise, Makes a Man
Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise.
~Benjamin Franklin
Write it!
Grab a sheet of paper…you know how I love to have you scribble things down! Reading is one thing but when you take an action with what you’re reading, such as writing… it makes it stick in your brain 85% more!
Write down a “perfect day” as if you were able to accomplish all things you wanted to…
For Example… you woke up before the dreaded alarm went off and had time to stretch and wake up. You got up in your own time, had your prayer and meditation time. Had a nice cup of coffee and read something rewarding that ignited a positive mindset for the day. Went to the gym feeling like a Boss, and got in the best workout of your life,
Had time for a nice hot shower and hair was perfect when you got out! No traffic on the way to work and arrived early enough to have a nice chat with the boss who loved your innovative ideas to make the company better and then even complimented you on the great job you have been doing… Publicly!
Your focus and productivity are on POINT and you kicked butt at work with flow with ease. Your co-workers gave you that “I’m impressed smile and nod” and then you received a public pat on the back by the manager maybe even a high five by some co-workers. You finished everything early… (instead of cramming everything in at 4 pm like usual) and were able to leave work a little early and beat traffic.
You’re home early and feeling energetic, so you decide to go for an extra run or grab a game of tennis or basketball with some friends. Then, you end up going out to dinner with some other friends you haven’t got to see in a while and have the best time! Come home have a nice bubble bath and get in bed early enough to finish that chapter from this morning and finish the night with nice inspiring thoughts as you drift off into a happy dreamland satisfied with your day.
Ahhhhh, So nice right?
Ok now come back us….What was different about that day than any other? Choices. This you, in this day lived every moment with intention. You made choices that made things better. You chose each thing carefully creating better outcomes, each choice helping the next one, The choice avalanche worked in your favor instead of against you.. as most do. This version of you lived in Action instead of Reaction.
Choose to live in Action, not Reaction.
Now, let’s make an honest list of what we do with our day. Grab another sheet of paper and just write a list of everything you do in a day, big and little, even if you think it’s only one minute of your day. Include, scrolling on the social media, the lull time in the mornings stumbling for your coffee, The procrastination at work, all the major things and the in-betweens. Now, throughout the day – write how many minutes you actually spend doing those things in a day. Ouch… When I did this I was shocked to see how different what I thought my day looked like and what actually was, were!
Don’t beat yourself up, just be honest, we all know that Facebook and emails are like the Bermuda triangle, sucking us in and suddenly it’s been 2 hours! It happens to the best of us, but being aware is key. LLet’sstart to re-arrange your time. Schedule in the FB breaks. Train yourself to not look at it until its scheduled, and schedule in 3 10 minute mini-breaks through out the day. Set a little timer on your phone to go off when you 10 minutes is up. This is not forever, just until we learn what 10 minutes feels like and learn that the time we are freeing up is worth it. Self-discipline is the best kind of discipline. Its something to be proud of and feels much better than the boss yelling at you right?
We are the only ones in charge of ourselves, our choices and our actions.
If you really want to go above and beyond try to add something new into your every day that you have been wanting to. Time is just an exchange, you can exchange 20 minutes of Facebook time for learning a new language, cooking something extra healthy, taking a walk at lunch instead of desk burger binging. Exchange the habits that dont help us become who we want to be for the ones who do.
Everything we do with our time is an exchange.
We are always leveraging things
to fit what we can into a day.
How is that working for you? What if we exchanged some lulls for some kick butt? What if you choose to do something productive and only that for 30-minute chunks… without distractions…put the phone on airplane mode, turn the email off, turn off the tv, put in headphones and grind! … you will survive, I promise;) How much more productive would you be?
What if we decided to use social media or fun time as a reward say…after you complete 3 Have-To’s on your list, then you get 15 min of… you fill in the blank?
What if we multitasked some things. Listened to an audio book, podcast or learn a new language or skill on our way to work, while getting ready, during workouts, maybe even during work if you have a mindless job. Getting smarter and building your future while working.
How different would our day look if we scheduled in the “me-time” before work? We would get up, and do all those things stress-free, self-loving things before work and change the attitude and outlook of your entire day by simply starting our right.
What if we decided to turn off all electronics at 9 pm. Including phone, games, TV. Dim the lights, and start preparing our bodies for rest time. What if we laid down by 9:30 and read something peaceful and inspiring before bed? WHat if we actually get into bed on time, with lights out at a decent hour? Is that something in our control? yes. Is that something that will make our tomorrows better? Absolutely. Would it be easier to make good choices tomorrow, to get up and workout, to make time for a healthy breakfast, get to work early, create the day we mentioned before? YES.
Start today to set yourself up for success for tomorrow. Set your intentions to start creating your perfect day, little shifts here and there make HUGE changes later. You are worth it. We Deserve it. We deserve to shift our days away from the fly by the seat of our pants kind of days to an organized intention filled day of kick butt activities and actions. The world, your family, your friends, your co-workers, your spouse, all deserve a happier you! I will promise you one thing. You will feel way more energized when you’re organized.
Chaos is Exhausting.
Organize your life by organizing your time. Think of things that deserve your time and things that don’t, that goes for people too. If you have 5 minutes would you rather spend it arguing with someone who won’t listen or lifting up someone else who will? Which drains you and which sparks up your life? Where is your time most valued? Find the things that fuel you and ditch the things that drain you!
We need to guard our time with our lives.
Don’t think for one minute that organizing our time is boring or punishment. It makes life so much better! Face it, it’s so hard living a life with days are more like a boundless tornado. It’s hard to change some bad habits into good ones. CHOOSE YOUR HARD. Which one is going to be harder for longer? Which one will make your life better in the end? If we feel like we have just been surviving our days then we know something has to change. We can not go on like this forever! It is too exhausting! Take control of your day by scheduling your time. Yes, it’s that easy! Breaking old habits is the hard part, but we can do it. We are worth it.
To be successful…
We must set ourselves up for success!
We must schedule our time with family, our friends, our work time & our play time! The time on social media, even our tv shows. We must set ourselves up for Success with a bedtime and a wake-up time that we stick to, Eight hours later.. no less! Tomorrow stops for no one. He is coming whether we got any sleep or not.
Learn the amazing benefits of Power Hours, Power 30’s, even Power 10’s. Take 10 minutes in the morning to read something inspiring before our day takes over. Something that helps us set an intention of success and happiness for the day. Close each day with something inspiring as well.
Self-Discipline is a gift, not a punishment.
Even if you don’t feel like working out, do it anyways, don’t feel like making something healthy, do it anyway. Learn the power of self-discipline, knowing working on our dreams, goals, or even exercise is a gift and not a punishment, changes the way you see things, get excited about it. View everything with a grateful heart. That is how the perfect days begin to happen. The more good in everything we seek the more great things we will find and the most amazing things will start happening as we put forth the effort and energy to do these good things.
Choose to start living in a beautiful cycle,
instead of living in a vicious cyclone.
Exchange bad habits for good and good things will come easy for you. Master your time, and stop letting it master you. Time is a precious, precious gift. Starting today, Let’s not take it for granted.
Inspired? Let us know! What thoughts did this bring up for you?