Not having the time, or simply not taking the time?

“Save the excuses. It´s not about “having time”. It´s about making time. If it matters, you will make time.”

Anonymous

One of the most typical answers to why people are being held back from taking action. Guess for some people it can be an easy getaway from not stepping out of the comfort zone. Rather stay on the couch and watch Netflix or scroll around the social media feed one more time.

I truly believe it´s as simple as the above quote says: If it matters, you will make time.

Every now and again I go back to something I learned from a sports psychologist. This was from a coaching education, but still very relatable to any person who wants to achieve things in their lives. He used to ask us this:

” What is your valued direction?”

The meaning of that was to get us thinking about what´s important in life. And therefore let that influence all our decisions.

For example, I wrote down on a piece of paper that my valued direction was to be as good a father, husband, brother, and son to my family as I could ever be.

Meaning that all decisions and all actions that I take each day will have the objective to take me a little bit further towards that goal.

Set yourself up for success!

For example, I have a goal to do something each and every day that my future self will thank me for. This could be anything from acquiring a new set of skills to get some exercise done on my own so I stay healthy and that way a better father and role model.

Having a daughter who is 5 months means a lot of early mornings. If that´s positive or negative I´ll let anyone who reads this decide on their own. From my perspective, it has become a great way of kickstarting the day. A lot of high-achieving people will get up at 4.30 am in morning. Insanity or genius?

The point I´m trying to make is, that this is a time during the day with much fewer distractions that can stop you from focusing. No phone calls, news, or social media activity going on in the same way.

What better way to start the day, than getting that advantage to other people? Personally, I find it so much easier to focus that time of the day. The brain is fresh from a good night’s sleep (hopefully). And it definitely builds a good momentum for the rest of the day.

That extra time or bonus time if you will, certainly gets me relaxed and focused knowing that there´s still lots and lots of hours left of the day.

If I feel like it, maybe I will get some work done to stay ahead a bit. I certainly won´t shy away from spending some quality time with my daughter, which always gets me in a good mood.

In which direction do you see yourself going?

A few months ago I had a part-time job where I would work from 11 pm and come home from work at 6.30 am. It wasn´t a particularly motivating job. I realized I needed a change of direction in my life.

As I wrote earlier, one of my valued directions in life was to be a good a father as I could ever be. And in order to fulfill that goal, I needed to spend more time at home. I´ve always loved the idea of being flexible in my job.

I mean, which parent in the world doesn´t love the sound of that? In 10, 20, or maybe 40 years from now. Wouldn´t you want to be able to say that you were taking the time for things that actually matters to you?