Most people’s eyes get very wide when I talk about FALLING IN LOVE with time.
At Handel, we think your relationship to time is one of the most important relationships you have. After all, time is the currency of YOUR LIFE. It represents the precious limited number of moments that you are alive, the moments with which you get to make your impact.
Did you know you were in a relationship with time? Think about it. Do you struggle with time? Curse it? Wish you could manipulate or change it? Ignore it? Sometimes, just “let it be?”
Sounds like a relationship to me!
Happy “Back to School,” and now it’s time to deal with your relationship to time. As you can tell, there is an emotional (and even spiritual) aspect to mastering time, but there are also very practical physical components. I sat down with HG Senior Coach Hildie Dunn to pick her brain on the subject, and here are some excerpts from our interview:
Laurie: How did you learn to be good at mastering time?
Hildie: I had to practice. Nobody masters something without time and effort. Investing time in learning about time is very wise.
Laurie: What are the benefits of mastering time?
Hildie: Mental freedom. Who could put a price on that? If I know I am paying the bills on Thursday, I don’t have to think about it at any other time. When I write my commitments down I get them out of my head, leaving a lot of space left over for more important things, like dreaming.
Bottom line: When you master time you feel like the author of your life, you feel proud of yourself and you get to your dreams faster.
Laurie: What are the biggest mistakes people make with time management?
Hildie: I’ve noticed, with my clients, they either ignore challenging projects or they attempt to “eat the elephant all at once.” We overwhelm ourselves on purpose to get out of having to do things that might scare us. Bite-sized pieces are key.
Laurie: What is the #1 tip you give people when it comes to mastering time?
Hildie: Look at all the things you don’t want to do, specifically, and then go after them one at a time. You must write a plan and then implement a system of promises and consequences to keep you focused.
Laurie: Lots of people love making lists, but how do we prioritize?
Hildie: This is the big truth-telling part. The chicken in you will hate it. Ask yourself, “What’s the most important thing to get to your dream today?” When you honor that, and get on that track, time tends to open up and leave more and more space for inspired actions.
Laurie: I can hear my client saying, “You don’t understand. Not everything I want to do fits in my day, but I can’t give anything up.” What do you tell people about that?
Hildie: You already ARE letting plenty of things slide, but usually it’s the wrong things. When you focus on what’s really most important to you, not just with quantities of time, but quality of focus, other things have a way of sorting themselves out. Do you want to live your life by someone else’s “shoulds” or directed by your own highest ideals? There might be some difficult conversations to design, but you can handle that.
Laurie: Hildie, will I ever get it all done?
Hildie: No. That’s about as realistic as being perfect. A much better context would be to ask yourself how much ground you took today in the most important areas. When you take brave, bold actions in the hardest areas, you’ll feel great. Getting into action at all will always make you feel better. Everyone has the same 24/7, mastering time is about being present to designing them.
Laurie: Thanks for your wisdom, Hildie.
Love,
Laurie & Hildie
CLICK TO TWEET IT: Everyone has the same 24/7. Mastering time is about being present to DESIGNING it.