Make Time for Your Life

“I don’t have enough time!” 

How many times have you said this, has someone said this to you, or even emphatically yelled it as they ran off into the busyness of their self-inflicted full-to-the-brim calendar of events?

Here is the bigger picture – the bigger question…WHY don’t we have enough time?  What do we do with our time? 

If you consider that most people work less than 2,000 hours a year (average of 38 hours a week).

What are we doing with the other 6,760 hours each year?  Even if we sleep ½ of that we should have 3,380 hours of discretionary time each year.

Do the math – take your age (I am 52) times 3,380.   For me that is 175,760 hours I have been alive and made choices of how I have spent my time. Suffice it to say, if we have enough time to work, we have enough time to think.

Isn’t 3,380 minutes a year enough time to do ALL the things we want to do? 

Apparently not.

Our society runs at full throttle almost 100% of the time.  That coupled with our innate need for self-expression and concern around how others see us is a recipe for unnecessary actions which results in a decrease of our available time.

We feel that we have to work more, earn more, spend more, do more, post more, respond quicker…BE more.  But all of this increases things that TAKE from our finite time and our reservoir of energy.  Leaving us time-less and exhausted.

We all have the exact same amount of time each day…some do well with it, others not so much.  Some have what life coaches call “balance”, others do not.  Some accomplish enormous amounts of “stuff” while others seem to flail and not get the tasks completed. 

Or is it that we are simply afraid to stop, to contemplate and reflect on our lives?  Do we keep these insane schedules so that we are unable to really get to know ourselves and instead just continue to live in the communication-saturated-shallowness-entrenched-opinion-rich society that the social media craze has thrown upon us?

Take one minute, right now, and try to recall when was the last time you were alone with your thoughts for at least an hour, with NO distractions from screens or people or life?  When did you last dive into your own thoughts and make an intentionally, informed opinion about something – anything – that has had significant repercussions on your life?

When is the last time you had a conversation with yourself about who you are, what you believe in, what you want, and where you are headed?

ALL of us have the time…we all have the same amount of time…To stop.  To think.  To contemplate.  To decide who we are for ourselves.  To get done what we need to, what we want to, and even what we should.

But there lies the dilemma.  If our calendars are filled with obligations, how do we squeeze out the time to decide, to be intentional, to change the course?

“The bad news is time flies.  The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altschuler

We need to place leisure time on our calendars.  Dedicate those times to being free from ANY obligations.  This is different than your vacations (I don’t know about you but our vacations are often jam-packed and I arrive back home exhausted!).  This is different than your recreational activities with friends and family. 

It should be a time that is VOID of everything.  All distractions.  Like placing yourself in a bubble so as not to be held hostage to your phone, your family, your work, your to-do list, your life.

It is time for you to evaluate, think, BE.  Time to pursue wisdom, read or listen to ancient and modern realms of thought.  It is a time to have thoughts of your own.  To take what you know, what you hear, what you read and mull it around, hold it up to your values, your character, your dreams, and make your own conclusions.

It is about doing FEWER things intentionally so that you can have more enjoyment and be more effective in the hours you spend on this Earth.

We have the time.  What we lack is the wisdom and the discipline to use our time wisely.  Remember, you are only as busy as you let yourself be.