Time

Just what is time?

Time is something we deal with every day, and something that everyone thinks they understand. However, a compact and robust definition of time has proved to be remarkably tricky and elusive.

Time is evasive, time can be too short, too long, frustrating, boring, not enough, too much, too fast, too slow.

Whatever way you interpret time in your life, you cannot deny it is our number one preoccupation (after the weather). We are all clockwise and we all live by the clock. It dictates our day from the moment we awaken to the time we go to sleep.

Before those clever Egyptians learned to measure time and invented the 24 hour day, we awoke at sunrise and went to sleep at sunset. Simple as that. I could do that again quite easily.

The 24 Hour Day (Clock Time)

Most of us now live in a very busy world, where time has become our biggest resource. With the invention of the Internet, We have all become a generation of multi-taskers. Every day we are trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Time has become very limited.

Now it is a proven fact that women are better multitaskers than men. I am a man so it doesn’t come naturally to me. I tend to go the other way. Instead of multi-tasking, I end up procrastinating. I literally waste hours every day, not doing what I am supposed to. But thinking about it. This creates a lot of anxiety and the more anxious I get, the more stressed I get, the more I procrastinate, the less I do.

“There are not enough hours in the day”

If you had to calculate your time, I am quite certain you would discover that you are wasting a hell of a lot of it. Hours in fact. We spend hours every day in our present moment being preoccupied with the past or the future. Doing that is a complete waste of time as there is absolutely nothing you can do about the past. It has past. Or the future as we are not there yet. All we can deal with is now.

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.” — Eckhart Tolle

So what can you do to manage your time?

Take the 24 hours, those Egyptians kindly gave us. Break it down.

A breakdown of my typical weekday:

24 Hours

23:00–06:00 Sleep.
06:00: Exercise, Meditate, Journal.
07:00: Dressed, Breakfast.
08:00: Drop Kids to the school bus, drive to work & listen to an audiobook.
09:00: Work — Daily To do list & a Brain dump.
10:00–12:00: Work.
12:00: Lunch.
13:00–17:00: Work.
17:00: Drive Home & listen to an audiobook.
18:00: Time with Family.
19:00: Spinning/gym class or exercise at home.
20:00–22:00: Online work.
22:00: Watch TV.
23:00: Meditate, read and bed.

Of the 24 Hours, I need to prioritise what is important:

We all need at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep per day.

That leaves 16 to 18 hours.

Of those 18 hours, I have to deduct 10 hours for work and the commute.

I have 7 hours left. As above I try to divide it between my family, online work, exercise, meditation and TV.

Although I try to work by this routine on a daily basis. Life is life and shit happens. It has to be progress, not perfection.

Unfortunately a lot of people today give up too soon once they feel things aren’t working the way they think they should.

It’s not the situation that doesn’t work — It’s people.

Now looking at that breakdown I can identify exactly where I am wasting time. I tend to procrastinate at work, so I can be a lot more productive at work if I plan it better.

If I “Eat that Frog” I can do the most difficult task first to completion. Address each task one task at a time and focus on just one at a time.

A lot of my blogs are related to addiction and I am an addiction counsellor, so I can incorporate them with my job. During my lunch break, I can also blog. I must also delete any games on my phone and not look at social media at work.

Your brain needs feeding.

Learn as much as you can: I read when I can and also listen to audiobooks on audible on my commute. I watch documentaries on TV. Learn as much as you can, especially about personal development. I do my best to try to avoid watching the news “No news is good news”. I do watch the weather forecast as I live in Ireland.

Do not let your smartphone or social media hijack your life. I leave my phone in another room at night. I’ve turned off all alerts except for the ring tone. I don’t look at my phone for at least an hour after I awaken. I have deleted many apps, subscriptions and Gmail posts. Limit your social media to a maximum of 30 minutes a day and at a specific time. Believe me, you are not missing anything. No screen time for at least an hour before bed.

Sunday is family time. Keep one day free and for family time only. They grow up very fast and the last thing anyone wants is regrets for time not spent together.

Time Audit

All our lives are different and we have different routines and rituals. It is important though to identify when you are being productive and when you are not. Also, look at how you can manage your time better.

When you finish your time audit look to see what habits, routines, behaviours are a time asset or time waste. Replace the waste of time with productive time. Instead of sitting and watching a rerun on TV, go for a run/walk, work on your online business, write, wash your car or something else constructive.

Take advice with a pinch of salt and never compare.

When I first started affiliate marketing I spent every spare minute of the day learning about it and trying to build my business. I was totally preoccupied and had no time for anything else. Guess what, I got burnt out. Now I was told that if you are building your own business, you cannot suffer from burnout. All I say to that is Bull Shit. A quote from a great movie, The Shawshank Redemption put it just right.

“You can get busy living or get busy dying”

We only have one life, no dress rehearsals. None of us knows when it will end. It’s best to just plan your day right: work-rest-play. Try for 8 hours of each if you can, take at least one day off to spend with loved ones and unplugged. The rest WILL fall into place.