Time Management vs. Time Investment
How many of us talk about time management or lack of time to get it all done? Yeah, pretty much all of us. In fact, it’s probably the number one excuse I get from people who don’t work out or cook supportive meals.
Number two, of course, is money, although, I call BS on that most of time. I won’t go on a rant about that here though. 😉 I’ll stick to the time management issue.
I thought I’d share a little bit of my take on the subject…
When you look at time, do you look at it as time spent or time invested?
That may seem like semantics, but it’s not…
When you spend (time/money/resources) ON something, your mindset is generally more focused on lack, limitation, or waste. When you invest (time/money/resources) IN something, your mindset is generally more focused on abundance, growth, getting/making things better.
That’s an interesting way to look at it, isn’t it?
I mean, if I had to choose to spend my time between getting in a workout or emptying boxes that obviously have things that aren’t that important to me, the workout is going to give me a much better return (for my goals), right?
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should only spend time on the things you want to do or bring you the most return. After all, you gotta do the dishes and take out the trash… Although, when you think about those tasks, they do have a specific return—dishes you can eat on and no stinky garbage in the house. ;-b
So, then, it all comes down to goals and priorities. I heard a long time ago that you can always tell what your priorities are by examining your calendar and your checkbook…
Have a look for yourself. Where are YOUR priorities?
OK. Let’s dig a little deeper into this time management thing…
First of all, you can’t manage time. We all have the same 24 hours in the day. What you can manage is ACTIVITY—got that one from the late, great Earl Nightingale. 🙂
What Nightingale meant is that you have to schedule your activities and then stick to your schedule, something that has become harder and harder these days with all the modern-day distractions (social media, hundreds of TV channels, cat videos on YouTube, etc.), not to mention that kids today are WAY overscheduled (causing all kinds of issues too broad for this article) and are therefore causing parents to be overscheduled and sacrificing their health & wellbeing… I could go on another rant here. ;-b
Simple Fact:If you want to get/stay healthy & fit, you’ve got to lead a lifestyle that will produce that result.
Working out regularly and eating supportively are critical. If you don’t make room in your schedule (invest your time), then you can forget about accomplishing your goals. Quite frankly, they’re not really goals at that point, just worthless wishes…
If you’re just “so busy” that you “can’t do it all,” then maybe you need to rethink what “it all” is.
- What are your goals—your most important goals?
- Are you spending your days working towards them, or are there hours/days lost on things that just aren’t that important?
- Would being more organized help you do things faster?
- Can you put a better system in place (or one at all) to review your goals, plan your objectives, and schedule your tasks?
- Can you cut some things out (trade late night TV for sleep), delegate some things (use www.OriginMeals.com for lunches), and limit time spent on some things (pick set times and use a timer for Facebook)?
You can argue with me and kid yourself all you want, but the bottom line is you’ve got one life, there’s no getting back days past, and there are only 24 hours (16 if you’re getting proper sleep) in your day to get things done.
EVERYTHING IS A CHOICE. You choose your schedule.
So, are you spending time or investing it? If you’re investing it, are you getting the return you’re looking for?
You wouldn’t hang on to a bad stock with no hope for a profit. Don’t keep a schedule that sucks your life away and makes you wish you would have done things differently.
