4 Steps to Creating a Healthy Time Mindset To Improve Your Life
You don’t need another blog about how to manage your time. The world is flooded with time management how-to articles, videos, classes, and seminars. I’ve taught time management classes and have written about the time management techniques that I use to help my clients make the most of their days.
I want to share with you something infinitely more important than giving you more strategies to help you manage your days, the realization that your time mindset has an incredible effect on the quality of your work and the quality of your life.
How should we think about time?
I recently watched a TedX video entitled “The Philosophy of Time Management” given by Brad Aeon, a time management and productivity researcher at the John Molson School of Business.
What he said resonated with me not just as a time management and productivity expert myself, but as a fellow human being.
He told the story of the day he realized that everyone – his mother, his father, his friends, even he – was going to die one day.
Brad asked his mother, “Then why do I have to work? Why does Dad have to work so hard if he’s going to die anyway?”
As adults we think we know the answer to that question. But that childlike question begs another, more philosophical question:
“How can we use our time in a way that makes our lives meaningful?”
That’s a question that should be on everyone’s mind.
The answer will help you manage your time better than any time management hack I can give you.
What is your time mindset?
It’s the subject of poems, songs, movies, and literature. Our very language is shaped by the thought of time. We “kill time,” “make good time,” and wish we could “turn back the hands of time.” When we get it all right, we’ve made “the big time.”
For business people, the one that strikes at the heart is “time is money!”
You’ve probably said or thought this while wearing your entrepreneurial hat. As business owners, we’re either stressed because we don’t have enough of it or because we have too much of it.
The moment you truly realize that time is finite, you begin to understand that equating money with time cheapens its value. After all, the old phrase “you can’t take it with you” is true.
“I don’t have time.”
We’ve all complained about this. There’s SO much to do. Our to-do lists are so lengthy that tasks get bumped from today to tomorrow.
Read for pleasure? “I wish! There’s no time for that.”
Didn’t vote? “I didn’t have time.”
Catch up with old friends over lunch? “Sorry, it’s my busy season right now and I just don’t have the time.”
These are all familiar to us. But Aeon makes a great point. You know who really didn’t have time? Your great grandparents.
Think about it! Literally everything took effort and time. Modern conveniences were not available to them.
They couldn’t swing by a drive-thru to pick up dinner when they were tired. They had to make dinner from scratch.
They didn’t have washing machines or dry cleaners, they had to wash their clothes by hand.
They couldn’t order online and have their packages delivered to their doors.
You get the picture.
But it’s important to remember that despite the incredible amount of time and effort it took them to do everyday tasks, they didn’t complain about not having time. We do.
Even with the nearly effortless conveniences we can take advantage of daily, we complain that we don’t have enough time.
Why is there never enough time?
The simple explanation is that we have so many more options than our great grandparents had. There is no end to the variety of ways we can fill our time. And those options have been made so convenient that it requires little effort to fill every minute.
Think back to your latest Netflix binge or rabbit hole Google search. If we’re not careful, we can lose track of hours before we even notice.
You’ve heard the phrase, “No one ever looks back on their deathbed and wishes they’d spent more time at work.”
That makes total sense. But what are we to do? Things need to be done. Dreams need to be pursued.
How can we manage time?
How do we live our lives so that when we look back, we’re proud of the way we spent our time on earth?
Here are a few tips to help you understand your current beliefs about time:
Think about how you perceive time in your daily life. Do you find yourself saying things like, “I don’t have time,” or “There aren’t enough hours in the day?” Are you the “I don’t have time to breathe!” type or the “Time flies when you’re having fun!” sort? Do you perceive the clock as an enemy you have to fight? Becoming aware of your current time mindset is an important first step in making positive changes.
Make a note each time you find yourself saying you don’t have time for something. Are you using it as an excuse? Is the real reason that you simply don’t want to do the thing? Begin weeding that phrase out of your vocabulary. Time isn’t your enemy and shouldn’t be used as an excuse for saying what you really mean. Get honest with your feelings and your words. Identify the truthful reasons why you can’t do something and find kind but firm ways to say it.
Stop managing time and begin managing choices.
Begin by taking a look at the way you currently spend your time. Ask yourself:
Do the things I spend time on move me toward my goals?
Do they benefit me?
Are they meaningful to me?
Am I making conscious choices about where I spend my time or do I get sucked in without realizing it?
Make choices, not excuses. Need an hour to relax and dive into home improvement TikTok? Fine! If it relaxes and entertains you, great!
Feel the need to check your phone or inbox? I understand! Set aside a specific time in your day to do that.
Find you get drowsy and unproductive every day at 2:00? Schedule time for a power nap, a walk around the block, or an energy boosting smoothie.
Whatever fills your day, make it intentional. Fill it with things that bring value to your life.
If you “don’t have time” to work out, make healthy dinners, meditate, or [insert other activity you know would be good for you], sacrifice something less meaningful.
Yes, there will be times when you have to put your grown-up panties on and make sacrifices.
And when you have to say no to something because your day has been taken up by meaningful activities, don’t use “I don’t have time” as an excuse. Feel good that you’ve made choices rather than being unintentionally sabotaged.
We live in an era of unprecedented variety, convenience, and opportunity. Begin to use those conveniences to help you preserve the time you need for the things that enrich life. And not just your own life, but the lives of other people or organizations you’ll spend time serving, loving, or helping.
One day, when you’re old and gray, you’ll sit in your rocking chair and take stock of your life. Will you look back and see that you’ve made all the right choices? All the right decisions?
Of course not. But if you can look back and say that you did your best to use the time you had to live in a way that was meaningful to you, that you lived with intention and had time to devote to family, friends, or a cause dear to you, then your old eyes will shine with contentment.
Need help creating a new relationship with time?
It’s not always easy to examine your own thoughts and actions. Your way of thinking about and managing time have been practiced over many years.
Many people find it helpful to have an outsider, a person with a fresh perspective, help you evaluate your thoughts and your choices.
Savvy Maven helps entrepreneurs and business people discover ingrained beliefs about time, identify time robbers, and determine important goals. I’ll help you see the choices you can make to help you reach them. Contact me for a free consultation to see if you might benefit by creating a new relationship with time.