Time.
Time is often referred to as our most valuable resource. Everything we do requires time. And unlike other resources, once we expend our time it is gone and we will never get it back. We can’t earn extra time, nor can we store it to use it later. We might be able to save time by doing certain actions more efficiently, but it will ultimately be used somewhere else. This makes time a great excuse for us not to do something. It’s all too easy to look at something we want to do and say “that will take too long” or “I don’t have the time”. As if we need to conserve our time, just in case something else comes up that we would rather do. So we don’t take that course, or learn that new skill because it will take a few months or maybe even a year to actually accomplish it. And we justify it to ourselves, that it’s not worth it because it’ll just take “too much time”.
Which is one way to look at it, but it’s the wrong way. Because whether or not we choose to spend the time to doing something, that time will come and go. Those months, those years are going to happen and pass by regardless if we are taking that course or learning that new skill. And we can spend the three months or three years it takes allocating the time to it, and accomplish whatever it was we set out to do. Or, we can choose to not to spend the time doing it. We can “save it” thinking we’ll spend it somewhere else, the “just in case” mentality leads us to spend the time doing nothing instead. The three months or three years go by, and we have nothing to show for it. And even though we tried so hard to save that time, it gets spent.
This prevents us from even trying to do something. The idea that it will take too much time, or something better will come up precludes us from doing that other “thing”. Anything you see as truly worth doing, is at the very least trying for. Even if it is just taking a moment to figure out what it would actually require to make these things a reality. Then we will know how much time it genuinely takes to accomplish it and we can create a plan to actually do it. Maybe it’s just 30 mins a day and it takes a bit longer than expected. Or even a few hours a week, and it takes shorter than we planned. Because like it or not, if you don’t at least try, you will only know for sure is that you didn’t do anything at all. The three months will go by and you’ll be left wondering “could I have actually done that?”. Because if you actually allocate the time to the things that matter, you will accomplish them. At the end of the day there are no hacks or shortcuts. The work needs to get put in, which means getting creative, and eventually the three months will happen, only this time, there’s no question or wondering “could I have done it?”, because you did. You’ll be able to look back and see everything you accomplished. Rather than if you did nothing at all, in which case all you can do is look back and wonder where did the time go?
Since our time is finite, we don’t need to think about finding the time. Like any resource it comes to allocation. How much time do you allocate to those activities that don’t really add value to your life? Maybe it’s just 20 mins in the morning, instead of scrolling through social media (to see what others are doing with their time) you can do something else. Or maybe it’s an hour in the evenings, instead of hitting “play next episode” it’s working on whatever you think will have a positive add to your life. We might struggle to allocate the time because we don’t feel like it. We lack the motivation to do it. However, if it is truly worth doing, we can utilize different techniques ensure that we make it happen. And rather than the voice inside our head telling us it’s not worth it, it tells that it will be.
We can implement the idea slowly, and it starts by challenging the idea that things have to get done in a certain amount of time. We tend to put different arbitrary timelines on different personal (or professional) endeavors we set out to do, and research has shown we are pretty terrible at judging how long things take. We say “I will learn this new skill in 2 months” only to find out that timeline was not realistic. The skill was much harder to learn, and we get frustrated with how long it takes because we didn’t meet the arbitrary timeline we set for ourselves. We need to ignore the time to completion, and focus on the time we can genuinely commit to actually learning that new skill. Because even if it is just 20 minutes per day, that is 20 minutes we are closer to completing it, regardless of how long it takes.
Whether it’s three months or three years down the road, we don’t want to be wishing we could go back and do something different. Wishing that we could go back and sign up for that personal course or try that new skill. Because that’s just it, we can’t. Time doesn’t care, it won’t go backwards, nor will it stop. It will continue to march forward. This leaves us with a choice. We can choose to spend that time wisely, and make the absolute most of it. This isn’t a promotion for the “hustle culture”. The idea we have to spend every minute working on making money, starting that business or enhancing our professional “brand”. It’s about using the time we have to enrich our lives, engaging in the different activities that will add positive value. To do the things that we genuinely want to do, and find satisfaction in doing them. So at the end of those three months or three years, when we look back we aren’t wishing we could go back and do more, rather we are looking back and are satisfied with how we spent that time.
