Do you ever say, “if I only had more time then I would do …?”
Now think of a time when you thought you had time to do something and put it off. When you then realized you didn’t have as much time as you thought before the deadline approached, how fast did you get it done? Quickly right?
If you are like me, when you are crunched for time and feel like you won’t have it in the future, you get everything done in a matter of minutes.
If you have been using the excuse saying if only I had time to: take up hobbies, call old friends, see your parents, exercise, give back, have fun, or any other things that you say are on your wish list, stop making excuses.
Truth is, there is some other reason why you are not doing your wish list. Don’t believe me? Then I challenge you to write down three things you have been saying you wish you had time for.
Example:
1. Bicycling
2. Family activity
3. Creative project
Now write down what you feel you must do that takes priority over the wish list with weekly hours noted.
Example:
1. Work/job 50 hours
2. Commute 5 hours
2. Grocery shop/cook/eat/clean up 16 hours
3. Laundry 3 hours
4. Clean 2 hours
5. Errands/shuttling kids/sports 14 hours
6. Sleep 56 hours
7. Exercise 7 hours
8. Hygiene and self-care 7 hours
Calculate how much time your need list takes in a week.
From the example above: 168 hours is a week – 160 (need list) hours = 8 hours weekly remaining
In this example, there are 8 hours a week for the wish list. After you calculate your remaining time, what do you have left?
Now think about how are you currently spending that time?
Do you see how you have time for any of the three items from your wish list?
I share this example because once I had extra free time to do the things I thought I wanted to do, I still put them off until I felt my time was running out. While I did do more fun things with that free time, there was a much larger amount of time wasted because in my mind I thought I could do it in the future.
In reality, none of us know what our future holds. So make your list each day and include:
1. What needs to be done?
2. What can wait until tomorrow?
3. What will I regret not doing if I don’t get a tomorrow?
Make sure each day includes something to fill your sense of accomplishment and also something that fills your soul!
For a list of ideas visit:
Melanie Simon
Become Fulfilled 