By Natalie Rivera
I’m going to be brutally honest here:
If you find yourself saying “I don’t have time” what you really mean is “it’s not a priority.”
How do I know this is true? Because if you got home today and your house had flooded due to a broken water pipe, you would end up spending upwards of 10 hours dealing with it this week. You’d jump to action, move furniture, call a plumber, arrange for a cleaning company, and arrange your schedule as necessary. Magically you’d pull 10 minutes out of a schedule that moments ago you had claimed didn’t leave you “enough time” to work toward your goal.
There are 2 ways you can FIND THE TIME to put it words what you want to create in your life:
- Eliminate wasted time
- Make what you want a priority
The wasting of time comes in 2 varieties:
- Time wasters are tasks you do that are not important or that could be eliminated.
- Time fillers are activities you do to “fill time” in between more important tasks.
Time Wasters
Time wasters aren’t completely useless. They’re often more mundane, everyday tasks that you do because they have to be done. But, they qualify as being a “waste of time” because they’re either:
- Something that isn’t very important, meaning you probably don’t HAVE to do it
- Something someone ELSE could be doing, in which case you do not have to do it
1) The first step to eliminating time wasters is to literally eliminate unnecessary tasks. How would you tell if something is unnecessary? The best way is to compare its level of importance to the THING you want to replace it with. Have a goal or dream? A hobby you’d like more time to pursue? A side business you want to start? More time to read or write or create art? More time with your kids? Whatever THIS THING is that you want more time for, simply ask yourself:
Is this unimportant activity more important to me than this goal of mine?
If the answer is no, stop it. If you’re not sure what “time wasters” you may be currently doing, ask yourself: “is there is anything I do on a regular bases that if I STOPPED DOING IT nothing bad would happen?” Do you:
- Watch TV?
- Go on Social Media?
- Check your email more than 2-3 times a day?
Those are a good place to start. Is TV or time arguing with people about politics on Facebook actually more important than this goal of yours? Hopefully not. You only continue to waste that time because it’s easy. However, if you make a DECISION to take that hour and work on your goal instead, your life will transform.
Eliminating cable in my home was one of the most powerful decisions I’ve ever made.
A special note about mastering your email:
Whether you have a job where email is used or run a business, you absolutely MUST stop checking your email all day long. Studies show that people who check their email every five minutes lose 8.5 hours per week recovering their train of thought. In fact, many experts say that email is the #1 time waster. Look at your own life and see if this is true!
If you only make one change after reading this article, if it is THIS, your life will transform.
- Check only 2-3 times per day, ideally at set times (such as 10am, 1pm, 4pm).
- Turn off all notifications, so you’re not getting alerted (and distracted) every time an email comes in. Turn off or close the email program if you cannot resist temptation.
- Touch each email only once. When you go through them in batches (during your 2-3 sessions), click one email and then DEAL WITH IT. Reply, file, or DELETE. Done.
2) The second step to eliminating time wasters is to delegate your life. Ask yourself, what do you do on a daily or weekly basis that:
- You don’t like to do.
- You aren’t good at.
- Someone else could easily do. (Examples include cleaning, shopping, childcare, laundry, errands, etc)
Then ask yourself, who could you get to help you with these tasks? (Examples include family members, spouse/partner, your kids, hiring a person or a service, etc. If you’d have to hire someone, could you pay someone less for an hour than it would cost you in your own time? How about in your own stress? Is it worth it?). Which of these changes would make the greatest impact? How would it change your life?
Time Fillers
10 minutes can change your life!
Time fillers are actually the biggest source of possible time-savings and life transformation. In between certain activities during the day, you find yourself in no-man’s-land for anywhere about 10 minutes. You can’t really “do” anything because you’re in limbo between one thing and another. For example, while you:
- Wait for water to boil or dinner to be ready
- Go to the bathroom
- Drive (or ride) to work or elsewhere
- Wait in the pick-up line at your kids’ school
- Are on break at work
What times do YOU have during a normal day when you have a gap between activities with nothing to do?
During these times you probably “fill the empty space” with something—for most people it’s something on their smartphone. And for almost everyone, it’s something useless.
What do YOU do during these gaps?
Replacements: If you’re going to have this empty space, why not fill it with something that inspires you! Sure, you won’t have the time to dive into your project, but you could still fill your brain with something useful instead of useless.
- Love reading? Download an audiobook and listen during these times.
- Love inspirational videos or personal development books? You could listen to an audiobook or podcast.
- Love learning? You could enroll in an online course that teaches you something that will better your life and watch a short video during each of these gaps.
- Love laughing? You could watch youtube videos of funny cats. It doesn’t count as wasted time because laughing is good for you! Just don’t peruse YouTube videos when you have an hour to spare because you’ll get sucked in and use up that entire hour. Then it’s wasted time.
Induce an Emergency: Making It a Priority
The final option you have if you want to find time for the things that matter to you is to MAKE IT. It’s quite simple: imagine your priorities are emergencies. Treat them the same way you would a plumbing flood.
- Take out a piece of paper and write down what you are going to stop telling yourself you don’t have time for and start DOING.
- Imagine you hear a siren going off in your head.
- Jump up, run to your calendar, planner or phone.
- Schedule in at least 3 hours to dedicate to this activity. Re-arrange errands. Cancel meetings. Do it!
- Set alarms or notifications. Put stick notes around your house.
Make your goals a priority like your life depends on it. Oh, wait. It does!
One last thought…
When I was a teenager the following was my favorite quote. Taking this advice may be even more important than mastering your emails!
“The definition of wasted time is worrying about things you can’t control.”
Natalie Rivera is a firestarter, speaker and entrepreneur. She is passionate about empowering others to GET REAL and live authentically. After a decade of living a life that wasn’t hers and developing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Natalie let go of everything and completely transformed. Through her journey to healing she rediscovered her true self and greater purpose—to inspire others to transform their lives. Natalie “retired” from the rat race at 24, put herself through school as a freelance designer, created a non-profit teen center, and later created Transformation Services, Inc., which offers motivational speaking, curriculum development, life coaching, event management, and publishing. She is also the Publisher of Transformation Magazine. Visit www.ignitelife.me.
