Interested in a Time Machine?

“I just don’t have the time.”

Ever hear yourself speak those words?  It’s quite possible you have, and on more than one occasion.  Life’s responsibilities and endeavors seep in and take a lot of, not only our energy and money, but also our most valuable commodity—time.

We all have the same amount of time each year, 365 days, 52 weeks, or 8760 hours.  If you’re feeling under pressure that doesn’t sound like much.  Most of your days are spent waking up to a to-do list longer than the time you’ll be awake, and a lot of us spend our time watching the clock or the calendar.  If your business is on the internet no doubt you roll out of bed onto a laptop.  Maybe you stay there until you can barely keep your eyes open at night.

We know that stress can be a killer causing anything from minor illness to more severe ailments such as heart attacks and cancer.  We may take a second to tell ourselves to calm down, and what gets done, get done, but while we do so our heart is palpitating.  We know there’s no way everything can get done.

How can we break free of time restraints?

I can't promise you a Delorean, but if you start thinking
in terms of "I want to" you might find more time.

I believe the first step is telling yourself the “have tos”, in other words those tasks you convince yourself must be taken care of immediately, are not as urgent as you might ascribe to them.  Maybe these “have tos” are more like “feel I need to dos”.

What if you changed your thinking around on this subject?  It’s not going to be easy taking your driven personality and telling it to take things as they come.  And, trust me, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with driven, but there is when it endangers your health and effects your relationships with others.

So here’s the first step:  Transfer your thinking from “I have to do...” to “I want to do...”  By doing this you cut out the unnecessary tasks or the ones that can truly wait.   Also by focusing on what you “want to do” you are feeding your soul.

Maybe you’re still having a hard time letting go of the “have tos”?

Here’s my suggestion, go to the country.  Let the wind blow across your face, and if you’re near water let the sound of it lapping against the shore soothe your soul.  When you’re eighty years old, do you think you’re going to look back on your life and think of all you accomplished with your business, or your “have to” list and feel satisfaction?  Or will those memories be the times you spent with loved ones or fed your soul?

Recently, I rediscovered the “truth”.    Life shouldn’t be made up of the “have tos”, it should be made up of the “want tos”.  I was enlightened by a trip to the country.  For the first time I ever remember I had moments there where I thought of nothing at all.  No doubt to observers, as I watched over the lake, I looked like I was contemplating the deeper purpose of life and the universe, but I was thinking about nothing.  I was listening to the sound of the wind in the trees.  I let it brush across my face, and let everything else go, and surprisingly it wasn’t hard to do.  All of this happened naturally.

Maybe you can’t afford a trip to the country, what can you do?

Most importantly buy out time for your soul.  Can you sit outside and listen to the sounds around you?  Can you further feel nature through the breeze, and the smells?  If you’re in the city, tune out the noise pollution of cars, and sirens, focus on nature and its soothing voice.

No matter where most of us live there are parks around us where we can walk or sit on a bench.  Take advantage of this.  Let yourself breathe.

By making solitary time a priority, you will find renewed energy and motivation in life.  You’ll sense more purpose, and your thinking abilities will clear thereby making you more productive.  Due to this, you may even find you have more time.