The Myth of Time

One of the biggest myths people believe in these days is that they can learn how to manage time better to improve their lives.

Sorry folks – “time management” is an impossibility!

The only thing we can manage is our choice of how we use the time we are given.

Okay, you might be saying “that’s just a semantics thing.” Perhaps. I would suggest though that it is a “mindset” thing. You cannot create more time, you cannot lose time, you cannot manage time. Plain and simple.

The mind must shift from “time management” to “choice management.” What choices are you making for how you spend the time you have?

We all have 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours, 7 days a week and so on. It might feeeeel like a 10 day week or that the past hour has whizzed by in a second, but that’s just illusion.

Action – To understand the choices you are making with your time, you must be fully aware of what you are doing with it.

For the next 2 weeks, keep track of everything (yes, everything) you do between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm. (If you work night or rotating shifts, find a 14 hour block that would serve you best to monitor.). Create a table or use your scheduling system to monitor how you spend your time in 30 minute chunks.

At the end of the first week, briefly review any trends you are noticing and mark them down.

At the end of the second week, set aside 1 full hour to review what you have written and, as honestly as you can, answer the following questions for yourself:-

• When am I most productive?
• When am I least productive?
• What do I do consistently each day?
• What tasks take a long time for me to complete?
• What tasks take a short time for me to complete?
• What do I do to avoid tasks I don’t like/want to do?
• Why do I not like/want these tasks?
• What do I enjoy doing?
• What choices do I make that serve me well?
• What choices do I make that no longer serve me well?

List 5 choices you are now going to make to positively impact your time.

This “time tracking” action step is one you’ve probably come across before. It may take you a couple of attempts to do this for a full 2 weeks. Many people either “don’t have time” or mysteriously “forget” to do it. Please don’t let this happen to you. They are simply ways to avoid being shown something you subconsciously (or consciously) already know.

(Are you going to choose to follow this exercise? Why or why not? Please leave your reply in the comments box)