How To Make Time When There Is No Time

Whether it’s with my coaching clients or with the people I interact with from day to day, everybody’s pinched for time. Everybody’s too busy. And (most) everybody doesn’t see how they can make more time in their already “too busy” schedule.

Well, at the risk of sounding simplistic, there’s only one way to get more time. You take it.
You have to operate from the belief that there is definitely some time, somewhere, that you can grab on to. You’re wasting (or underutilizing, if you want to be polite about it) time every day. There’s the time you’re in the car. The time you’re waiting in line. The time you’re in the shower.

It may not seem like much, but it’s key. Just follow me. These tiny snips of time, these slices of your day, they’re your golden opportunity to hold a little strategy session with yourself where you ask, “Ok, what can I do today to push things in the right direction? How can I free up 15 more minutes than I would have had today to do something I haven’t been getting to? Where can I defer doing something I don’t really need to in order to focus on what matters more?”

In truth, we have a lot more time (and money) than we let on … because we’re rationalizing the fact that we’re wasting so much of it. We’re giving it away. You have to start taking it back.

So today, keep conscious of those little slices of time, because they are your golden opportunities to reinforce the habit of acting “on purpose” to make better use of your time.

If you think this post has no value, read it again (and again) until you “get it.” None of us are using our time 100% effectively, including myself. If you’re not consciously choosing to use these “time slices” to start pushing yourself in the right direction, little by little, don’t be surprised if you feel “pinched” by time for the rest of your life.

Take on your day “on purpose” and take back a few minutes today, and tomorrow, and the next day. You’ll get better at it each day. Do it now. You’ll thank yourself for it.