Not enough time to pursue your dreams?

Most of us, at one time or another, claim that we don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough time to work out. We don’t have enough time for a hobby. We don’t have enough time to hang out with our friends. And we certainly don’t have enough time to pursue our dream.

When we see our world through this belief it certainly proves itself to be true.

But what if I said you have more time than you think?

This statement is by no means intended to show any disrespect to you or to the ongoing number of commitments and responsibilities that you do have. But it’s true. You do have time to pursue your goals AND to enjoy more beautiful moments in your life.

So let’s do a little excavating…

How much time do you spend watching tv? And scrolling through social media feeds?
Are you saying YES to commitments you wish were a NO?
Are you taking care of every else’s needs and not your own?
And do you feel like you can’t focus on you until everything on the to-do list is done?

The bottom line is…How much time do you spend on things – that at the end of the day – don’t really matter that much to you?

What are your time sucks? Where can you reclaim some beautiful nuggets of time?

I decided to find out.

For 26 years I insisted on wrestling my very curly hair into the perfect feathered and flipped do. This obsession cost me a lot of time.

Here’s a breakdown:

Straightening my hair (1979 – 2006 = 26 years)

Week – 45 minutes, 3x/week = 135 minutes per week
Month – 540 minutes = 9 hours per month
Year – 6,480 minutes = 108 hours = 6.75 days (awake hours of the day)
26 years – 175.5 days or almost 6 MONTHS OF MY LIFE!
I decided my hair is no longer worth spending a week each year doing and to my surprise ended up realizing I usually like my crazy curls.

I did a similar calculation for doing the dishes. Delegating a good chunk of K.P. to my 3 boys has bought me a very imperfect cleaning job and almost 15 days of my life back every year. I decided the imperfection is worth it.

So what are your time sucks?

Once you can get super-clear on how you’re spending your precious time you can become very intentional about what you say NO to so you can say YES to your goals.

Remember, your dream matters. Protect your time like your dream depends on it.

WRITING & REFLECTION:

What are your time sucks?

What are you willing to say NO to so you can say YES to you and your dream?