Episode 76 - From Time Loser to Time Lord
Hello smart human!
I think it’s time for us to start talking about time and your smart mind.
In this series on Time, we’re going to dive into what time is, how your brain experiences it, and how you can learn to live with this limited resource in a beautiful way.
And we’re going to start by looking at the way you SPEND your time.
I mean, literally.
Right now, you may not be very intentional about it.
You’ve got your work, your loved ones, a social life, and probably some other priorities that you spend time on.
But are you spending it intentionally?
Or is it a bit like what lots of people experience with money: before you know it, you’ve spent it all and then wonder where the hell it all went?
And yes, managing time can be even harder if you have a smart mind.
There are SO MANY THINGS you can and want to do - they can never fit into a day, week, month, year, or lifetime.
Time seems to be constantly robbing you of options.
Pressuring you into choosing, when you really do NOT want to choose.
You cannot possibly learn 4 languages, five martial arts, travel to 6 countries, master quantum physics, learn to play the flute and decipher the Indus script in the next three weeks.
It can make you experience time as if there’s never enough.
And can give you the urge to try and cram more and more into the few hours you have.
If this is you, then, sorry to say, you are a Time Loser - you feel as if it’s slipping away from you and you’re not the one in charge.
Needless to say, this causes a lot of stress - and often an even greater experienced deficiency of time.
So we want to turn you into a Time Lord instead.
Instead of losing time, or always lacking it, I want you to start seeing yourself as sitting on a heap of time.
Now we don’t know how much time you’ve got left, but let's at least assume you’ll at least make it through to the end of the week.
That gives you 168 juicy hours in your Time Bank Account.
Just sit with that, and savour it.
And now, you get to spend it.
What great things do you want to spend all those hours in your account on?
For me, for example, 7,5 hours of sleep each night is something I definitely want to spend it on. That’s 52,5 gone to lovely dreams, deep rest and rejuvenation.
I also choose to spend at least 7 hours a week on reading.
And 8 hours on doing fun things with people I like.
As you may have noticed, I also LOVE my work - my business gets 36 of those 168 hours.
As you may have noticed, these are all things that are important to me and my well-being.
So I intentionally choose to spend time on them.
And I want you to do the same.
Look at your 168 hours a week as if you’ve just received a bag of gold.
What do you want to spend this precious resource on?
What matters most to you?
Allocate those hours first - and then see what you’re left with.
In fact, I’ve created a simple GoogleSheet for you which helps you do this and immediately see how much you have left over in your Time Bank Account after your shopping spree.
Because there are some essentials that you also need to spend time on, so you can stay alive.
Eating, grooming, moving. Errands. Stuff like that.
Again, be very intentional here. You have 168 hours - spend them wisely and in alignment with your values.
And you may also want to allocate time for long-term goals and projects.
It’s like saving money in the bank - only the ROI is probably much bigger.
I spend 3,5 hours a week on learning Japanese.
This is my ‘future fun’ savings account.
I also invest a lot of time in professional development: taking courses, reading articles and books in my field, and so in.
This is my ‘future success’ savings account.
And I see the time I spend moving and in nature as my ‘future health’ savings account.
Much more fun to look at it this way, right?
So think about it:
What do you want to spend your bag of Time gold on?
And what do you want to invest in savings accounts for your future?
This way of thinking about and playing with Time as a resource takes you from feeling as if there’s never enough to being back in charge.
Being deliberate and decisive - as well as appreciative of what you’ve been given.
Being a Time Lord instead of a Time Loser.
So take some time out (ha!) today or tomorrow to balance your time book.
I’ve left a link in the show notes to where you can download the Google Sheet to help you figure this out.
There’s even a special section to take you through the same process for your work or business.
You’re not short of time.
You’ve been given a whole bunch of it - now YOU get to decide what to do with it.
Have a beautiful week,
Else a.k.a. Coach Kramer
Want to fall back in love with your life and work? Then I can help. DM me on LinkedIn, or Instagram to learn how you can work with me, or email me via podcast@elsekramer.com.
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