Read This If You Don’t Have Enough Time In The Day

 

Don’t we all need more time? Twenty-four hours a day doesn’t seem to be enough time to conquer our long to-do list.

 

I used to live my life thinking I never had enough time.

 

I always had too many things to do. I was tired, stressed, and over-allocated. Those around me seemed to never have enough time either. I thought it was inevitable. Doomed to live a life where there was never enough time for the things I truly wanted to do, always unfavorable responsibilities that consumed the majority.

 

A lack of time had become a way of thinking rather than a truth.

 

Today, I feel extremely wealthy with time. I see it now as abundant, time that I can transform and mold. Time that no longer controls me, but instead I am able to embrace as an open playground to explore. I often think about the one true time constraint of this life, that which is death.

 

The most beautiful and devastating gift of all. Honestly, death motivates and inspires me. It awakens me. Shakes me into living life with intent and purpose. What am I to do with my time here on this earth?

 

My top priority is to live a life that I enjoy and one that I’m truly proud of.

 

Sounds like it would make sense to be a top priority for all of us, doesn’t it? Why do we often find ourselves pushing it to the bottom of the list? This definition is completely different for everyone of us. What brings us happiness? Meaning? Purpose? What will make us proud?

These questions must be answered before you can outline your priorities and schedule your time.

Until this last year, I had never thought deeply about what my priorities were. I was a college student, so my easy answer would have obviously been school. However, my grades three years ago would show that I clearly didn’t treat it as a top priority.

 

Three years ago, I was..

• a full-time student with a part-time job

 

Three years ago, I felt trapped by time.

 

Today, I’m…

• a full-time student with a part-time job
• president of a student organization, involved in another one
• very inspired to create a non-profit (where I mostly allocate all of my time)
• able to workout and meditate at least 3 times a week
• able to read at least every other night
• able to immerse myself in writing every couple of days

Today, I feel an abundance of time.

 

Two years ago, I would have never believed I would have time to do the things that I’m doing today. In fact, that was my excuse to never try anything that I wanted to.

 

“I don’t have enough time” was the perfect excuse, because it shifted partial blame off of me and onto time.

 

It’s a matter of our mindset. A matter of our priorities, and our interpretation of what constitutes a priority.

 

What did I eliminate?

 

Excuses. The excuse of not having enough time to do meaningful things. For anything important, we always have time. Don’t use time as a cop-out for not going after what you want.

 

Time allocated to worrying or resenting what I need to do. We often allocate more time to thinking about how much we don’t want to do something, rather than just getting it over with. Get it over with! Or cross it off your list.

 

Countless hours of binge watching Netflix. I believed Netflix was my time to relax. After experimenting with different activities, I found that it wasn’t truly relaxing. Especially in terms of the amount of time I would spend watching it. It was an intense stimuli, mostly draining my energy rather than allowing me to recover.

 

Hours and hours in front of the mirror. I spend a lot less time getting ready in the morning, and in turn I also spend less time criticizing myself for any imperfections. I know I have saved hundreds of hours just in the last year from this change. Hundreds of hours that I can allocate to something that brings me true happiness, something meaningful.

 

Weekly alcohol binging. Alcohol doesn’t only affect you the night you drink it, and it’s not only affecting you the morning of your unpleasant hangover. I discovered that alcohol was affecting me everyday after in small unnoticeable amounts. Alcohol disrupts neurogenesis, our ability to grow new brain cells. Looking back, I can see how that impacted my ongoing depression and my struggle in school. Alcohol clouded my mind, making it difficult to clearly understand what I wanted out of life and what my priorities were.

 

What did I gain?

 

I gained peace. Meditation gives me the true experience of what it means to relax. To train my mind to release the constant need for thoughts and rumination. Decreasing time spent on self-doubting opened up many possibilities, including the beautiful opportunity of loving myself.

 

Resourcefulness. I learned to be creative with my time, and I learned to view it as a non-renewable resource. I began to compare a materialistic purchase to the cost of my time, rather than the cost of money. How many hours of work would pay for this? Would I rather spend my time doing something else? Majority of the time, my answer to this was that I would rather have the time. Time is precious, that is something you can’t get back.

 

A life that’s mine. A life that I chose with intent. Careful reasoning and understanding of what is important to me. I finally began to learn and understand myself and what I wanted out of this life. I have carefully designed my schedule with this in mind. I became appreciative of time.

 

How can you get more time?

 

1. Invest the time to learn about yourself.

Uncover what is truly meaningful to you and make time for it. Put yourself as a top priority. Learn your habits and behaviors, your personal excuses and “limitations”. Refocus your priorities on the things that arise out of this reflection.

 

2. Schedule the time to live, love, rest, play, build, create: make time to live.

Schedule out your entire week, hour-by-hour. Record how you actually spend your time. This is where I discovered how much time I actually spent watching Netflix (it was way too much). You would be surprised to see how unaware you really are of your daily and weekly behaviors, and how much time is wasted on pointless things.

 

3. Always question yourself.

Always question what you want from life, and what you want to give. Be mindful of your priorities, and the ways in which they may change.

 

Become resourceful. Creative. Relentless in your pursuit of spending time on things that make you happy. That make you feel meaningful and fulfilled.

 

You may also like to read:

 

Changing The Lens Of Your Life Through Your Mindset

Our mindset creates the lens of which we choose to see ourselves and the world. Our mindset influences our resilience to adversity, our ongoing curiosity and ability to grow from challenges, and our view of this life as a gift and our willingness to embrace it fully.