Mastering Time: Cultivating a Mindset of Gratitude and Positivity

Ever find yourself racing against the clock, feeling like you're always a step behind? Join Angie Costa and myself, April Sabral, as we tackle the often-daunting task of time management and unearth the potent role mindset plays in taming those ticking hands. In a heartfelt discussion, we share our insights from a recent workshop, revealing the transformation that occurs when leaders shift their perspective on time. We examine the potent effects that this shift can have not just on individual productivity, but on the collective culture of an organization. By embracing a week envisioned with achievement and ease, we illuminate how to build a more harmonious relationship with time, turning it into a valued ally in the journey to success.

Together with Angie, we delve into the remarkable influence of gratitude within the high-stakes world of sales, drawing from our personal stories and the wisdom of our book, "Incurable Positivity." The language we use about time can build up or break down a team's spirit, and we discuss how a change in vocabulary can foster motivation and improve performance. In the spirit of positivity, we challenge our listeners to adopt affirmations that craft a narrative full of potential and respect for time. By treating time as a treasured partner, we can expand our experiences to be richer and more productive. Tune in and transform your relationship with time, transitioning from a foe to an invaluable companion.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey there, positivity seekers, welcome to another episode of Incurable Positivity, the podcast where we explore practical ways to shift your thoughts from negative to positive.

Speaker 2: 0:11

I'm April Sabral, and with me is the incredible Angie Costa. Together, we co-authored the award-winning book Incurable Positivity, and we're here to bring those pages to life in this uplifting podcast Absolutely, april.

Speaker 1: 0:27

Our mission is simple to help you think and feel better. Life throws challenges our way, but it's how we respond that makes all the difference. Today, we've got some tactical tips to share with you that can truly transform your mindset.

Speaker 2: 0:41

For more positivity, head to wwwincurablepositivitycom. Stay positive, stay inspired. This is Incurable Positivity. Hey Angie, how are you today?

Speaker 1: 0:58

Hi April, I'm fantastic. How are you?

Speaker 2: 1:01

I'm pretty fantastic too. I'm feeling pretty incurably positive today. I wonder why? Well, it's because I've been having conversations with myself about time and just being reflective on it, because I just came out of a workshop where I trained 120 leaders about time. You know managing time, their relationship with time and how we think about time, and you know I think that there's a really good discussion here, because I don't know about you, but do you ever feel like you want more time?

Speaker 1: 1:38

Oh, always, you know, always. I think most of us probably feel like we don't have enough time to do all the things we either want to do or need to do. For me, it's more the things I want to do. I do find that I get done, what I need to get done, but boy oh boy, there's just always those little projects and things that you think about and you just go oh, do I have enough time? And you just go oh, do I have enough time?

Speaker 2: 2:02

Right. Well, and I think you know just after spending an afternoon teaching time management and follow-up and how to prioritize, it was really interesting because we didn't start from that perspective. We started from a place of what's the relationship with time? And so I asked this question, which was really interesting. All the answers, it's quite funny. But I asked them to consider, like, if time was sitting at their dinner table tonight and time was a person, what was that? What would they say to time? Like really, what is their relationship with time and how would that look? What would they say?

Speaker 2: 2:43

And so some of the comments were this was hilarious, it was me and time have got to go to therapy. We need to have a therapy session and have a conversation together. That was one. We've got to work some stuff out. We've got to work some stuff out, right. Then there was other ones of like you know time, I just need more of you, you know, please. Like how can we work this out again? So, like lots of conversations like this right happening. And it was really interesting because when you actually break down the self chatter in our heads that we have around time and the anxiety that it causes us half the time, half the time it's more about the mindset around it versus knowing how to organize and prioritize ourselves. I think a lot of mental energy is spent around how we actually perceive time and talk about it to ourselves. I don't know. Thoughts.

Speaker 1: 3:37

Yeah, See, this is such an important conversation and I'm so glad that you're having it with industry leaders, with corporate leaders, because I think that those are some of the places where you can really see the impact of a better relationship with time. Our culture, you know, commerce, all of that, but also all the people that these leaders are leading. I mean, if they can get a grasp on time and have a positive, healthy relationship with time, they can transfer that knowledge to hundreds of people that are in their organizations and in their departments. I mean that could have a massive sweeping effect. To be honest, I mean, imagine how that would affect customer service. I mean the whole thing.

Speaker 1: 4:33

So, from a purely technical perspective, I think it's incredible that you're having this conversation with leaders, but I think every single one of us needs to ask this question what do we think about time? How are we managing time? Because time is the it's, it's the one thing that equalizes us. We all get 24 hours in a day right, Every single one of us. The rich can't buy another hour, the poor can't sell an hour. It's all equal, and it's the one thing that we can all really truly control is how we relate to and manage time, yeah, and it causes us a lot of anxiety.

Speaker 2: 5:08

Let's be real, right, like when you've got a deadline to get done and you've got to get something in, and you're looking at the clock and you're like, oh my god, I've got all of this to do and I only have this much time, and you're going into a state of anxiety that can't be healthy for your body. We know what negative thinking and anxiety does to your health, right, like your energy levels and chemically, actually, it's been proven in your body that it causes dis-ease, right, which is disease. So, yeah, dis-ease, yeah, I love that Because it's like it just puts it where it needs to be.

Speaker 2: 5:45

But you know, oh yeah, so so I was really thinking about this this week, right, like how do I go into my week and make sure that I'm building a more positive relationship with time and how do I shift the self talk around time, and then how can I make time my best friend and work with me and for me? And so, yeah, that's what I've been kind of contemplating today and I you know, I sit down on Sundays and I envision what I want my week to look like, and I was really envisioning what an hour felt like completing something, like as if it's already done. What does a day feel like when you've actually accomplished everything and it was easy, breezy, and you weren't feeling anxiety and you didn't feel the pressure and you just like check, you know, just got it done. And I think there's something to be said for that, for visualizing before you go in to complete a task, um, so you can get your head in the right space. I don't know, do you ever practice anything like that?

Speaker 1: 6:42

that's really neat. I can't say that I've done that specifically. Like you, I do try to plan out my week and visualize the week. But wouldn't it be far more effective, before each task, to visualize the task? Because in truth, we know the power of visualization right and when we visualize something it is far more effective, many, many times more effective, when we act out what we visualized right. So wouldn't it be really wise to start doing that? You know, when we set something for you know 2 o'clock in the afternoon, before we start the task, just take a moment right, that moment of awareness, that moment of centering, and visualize ourselves completing the task, especially if it's a difficult task or a dreaded task, something, maybe a phone call that you know you don't really want to make, or a meeting you don't really want to have to participate in because you may have to deliver news or what have you. I mean that would really really take our performance to the next level.

Speaker 2: 7:45

Right, I received a message from somebody in you know Facebook that basically somebody hadn't seen for a while. They said you know, april, I'm coming down to Miami, I'd love to see you. I know that you're busy, so let's try and find some time. And I was like that's really interesting. How do they know I'm busy? Because they never asked me. So it's like I know you're busy.

Speaker 2: 8:11

So my response and you're going to laugh when I say this was I'm busy with a question mark, because I'm all about not making assumptions. So the response was I know how you grind, so I'm just being courteous and respectful of your time. This is a whole conversation about time. And I was like grind, oh really, yeah, I don't really use those words when I'm relating it to time. I'm actually reframing my entire work and time perspective. Right now. I'm working on using time smartly and purposely, not hard, so that I can have lots of beach time. That was my response. I said, however, I do appreciate you being courteous, but I have an amazing team. Blah, blah, blah. Anyway, he said yeah, you definitely deserve that beach time therapy. Goodbye, very good, like I'm super happy.

Speaker 2: 8:57

But you see how the conversation around time goes to grind, hard work right it was like just a natural thing that somebody projected onto me and I was like, yeah, no, I'm not having that relationship with time. You might be, but I'm not going there. It was so interesting that happened to me today. It was really interesting.

Speaker 1: 9:17

I'm thinking of how many times I've bought into that. Now that you mention it, how many times has someone said to me and I think almost everyone, even my children, sadly say to me Mom, I know you're really busy, but, mom, I know you're really busy, but so they, they have, they're already preparing for the possibility that I won't have time, and time is the greatest gift you could give someone. So, taking time to chat with a friend, have lunch, you know, sit out on the lanai and drink a glass of wine together or go for a walk along the beach, that's not lost time, that's not wasted time. That's how time is supposed to be spent. Spend your life doing the things that energize you, that you love. Um, and, of course, we've all got to make money, but even your money making time should be positive, powerful, energizing time. So, yeah, that's well you? I can't believe it, but once again you have opened my eyes well and you know, training these leaders.

Speaker 2: 10:19

It was really interesting because I had a friend of mine on the call because I wanted to get some feedback right, because as a trainer, facilitator, speaker, you know you're up there, you're training, you're sharing your content, your wisdom, and you don't necessarily get that critical feedback from your audience about what you could do differently as a speaker, facilitator. So I asked her to jump in and she listened, you know, throughout the call and at lunchtime we had a break and she said you know, can I give you some feedback? I said sure. She said, you know, when you started the day, the energy was so good. But you said this one thing we've got a long day ahead of us, so we're going to take don't worry, we're going to take breaks, we're going to get you up, we're going to get you moving.

Speaker 2: 10:59

She said when you planted that seed, it actually started to slow down the energy. So she said how about when you go back after lunch? You say you know what? We've got a short amount of time with a lot of content to get through and it's going to be so interesting this afternoon. So I was like God, that's a really great perspective right About how I'm planting the seed in other people's minds about time.

Speaker 2: 11:21

I didn't even realize I was doing it, Angie, because we naturally go there, we naturally default to, you know, negativity, right. So I come back after lunch and I do exactly what she said and we have these breakout sessions Now. The breakout sessions in the afternoon were actually three minutes longer than the breakout sessions in the morning, but everybody in the breakout session said whoa, that went really really fast. That felt like it was way faster than the morning, even though it actually physically wasn't. So the power right of how we talk to ourselves, talk to others, enroll in conversations, enroll in conversations, get enrolled in conversations plant that seed is so powerful for how we actually manifest and, like create in our life. I mean, I just was floored when that happened.

Speaker 1: 12:12

You and I were talking earlier about the effort that it takes to reframe, to shift when it comes to your understanding of time and your relationship with time. And that really was very wise of you to have someone listening, because we say things so casually or so habitually. I'll say it's probably a better word that we don't even realize that we are teaching people to have a negative relationship with time or to think about time in a negative way. And just that shift, just that small change in phraseology.

Speaker 2: 12:53

Yep, I like that word phraseology. I've never heard that word.

Speaker 1: 12:56

Right, right, like everyone's fired up. Now they're like, oh my God, I want to soak up every minute because we don't have a. Well, I'm not going to have you for me, let me get everything I can from you. So now they're pulling from you, which fires you up and it becomes a cycle of positivity. So that that's the right way to do it.

Speaker 1: 13:15

And I think we should all be mindful and aware of how we speak about time, particularly to the people closest to us, but, of course, to our teams and to the people we work with. It's critical that we think about how we talk about time. Like I can't tell you how many times when I was in sales, I had a manager say we only have three more days and we haven't hit quota. And if we don't hit quota, blah, blah, blah, blah, and it was all phrased negatively. And what if we said guess what team? We've got three days to hit our goal, we can do it three whole days. Like this is going to be great, we're going to knock the ball out of the park. That would have been a completely different conversation and would have produced a different result 100% different conversation and would have produced a different result.

Speaker 2: 14:06

100, that's a 100. That's a really great example, because I remember working in sales where we literally had those conversations. You know, and it's just natural to us, we have to be so aware and so intentional to catch ourselves with that language and also surround yourself with people that will help. You will catch yourself, will up-level your language and your thinking. And if you're not around people like that, join us in incurablepositivitycom, because we're growing a community there. But also, why don't you try enrolling somebody in a positive conversation as opposed to getting enrolled? Because it would have been really easy for me, angie, to go back and say, yeah, I'm working really, really hard. You know I've only got this amount of time, so get you on my schedule this, that and the other, but yeah, no, I wasn't getting enrolled in that conversation. Grind, that's just not a word that I want to ingest or embrace around time, you know.

Speaker 1: 15:05

I mean kudos to you for even being alert enough to understand that that really isn't a positive word. And I will tell you, as a woman in business, that is something that I was taught by my mentor when I first started my business. I was taught that this is a grind and I held that mindset and philosophy for years and years and years and didn't enjoy my business. And it wasn't until honestly and I say this all the time that I started working on your first book. The Positive Effect, the power of working on that book and being involved in that world with you for the very first time, really intensely, really shifted how I looked at my business. I didn't enjoy my work, my work was a grind and so I brought that kind of energy to it, versus today, where I feel like I bring a lot of life and creativity and vitality and joy to the book.

Speaker 1: 16:08

And when people to the books that I work on for clients, and when people get done with their book and they tell me how excited they are they talk about, you know the tears flowing and just you know the pride at seeing their book. They couldn't have said that before. They've not said that before because my mindset was got to do this, got to do that, got to get it done before this. You know, it was that constant working against time versus having time. Be your friend, loving what you do, spending the time doing the things you love and enjoy and bringing to it that, that air of positivity.

Speaker 2: 16:43

Yeah. So what's the challenge, then, for people listening to the podcast this week, because I always love leaving a challenge right so that we can take something into our week, into our day and kind of put something in action. Obviously, we want to focus on who we're being, because life is 80% of who you are and 20% of what you do. I truly believe that, so there is a place of being and doing in this. So what is the challenge that we could really empower people with this week in terms of this relationship with time?

Speaker 1: 17:20

Well, I'll give one, and I think everyone can do this. Who's listening, and we can all do this daily is to bring a sense of gratitude to your understanding of time. To just say thank, thank you, rather than looking at your age or looking at what you have to get done, what's on your never-ending to-do list, or looking at your goals, which is always great I'm a huge goals person, but I think that to start your day with a sense of gratitude, I'm so thankful that I have this week to work with this client or that client. I'm so thankful that you know we're going to be able to release a book later on this week not oh, my God, this is the book release week but to just be so thankful.

Speaker 1: 18:04

I'm so thankful for my age, I'm thankful for the years that I've lived, the experiences I've had, the wisdom I've gained the friendships and all that I've been able to accomplish. I've had the wisdom, I've gained the friendships and all that I've been able to accomplish. I'm just thankful that time has blessed me with the opportunity to do all the things that I've done. So I would encourage everyone to just take 60 seconds of showing gratitude to time, and I think I said to you earlier April that there are some cultures where time is considered a muse, is one of the muses, and if you treat time badly, then hours will feel like you know minutes, and if you treat time lovingly, minutes will feel like hours. So let's adopt an attitude of gratitude.

Speaker 2: 18:50

Love that. I absolutely love that. I think also that we could practice more positive affirmations around time. So I'm a big one on journaling. When I get up in the morning, right, I'm doing my study, I'm doing my journaling, and so adding positive affirmations around time. So speak to time as if it's your friend. For example, I am a great steward of time is such a great affirmation. Time is on my side. Time, thank you again. Gratitude for helping me. I love those gratitude ones. And just write some positive affirmations around time, like you do around money, like you do around health, like you do around relationships, whatever they are. Just write them positively.

Speaker 2: 19:41

And when you catch yourself in a moment of anxiety, going I don't have enough time, or I'm stressed, or I've got to get here, got to run out the door, if you're late, guess what? You're going to be late, but just don't be stressed about it. So I would say my tip for this week is going to be find three positive affirmations around time and then stick them on a post-it note, stick it on your computer, stick it on your mirror in your bathroom, wherever you need to put it, and start doing some reprogramming, cause you know me, angie, I am the believer in mind programming works. It just does Listen.

Speaker 2: 20:20

I had lunch today with somebody and they were like so do you believe that your circumstances from when you're younger determine who you are when you're older? And I was like, well, I don't know if I do, because I think mind programming is a big deal that people just don't know about. But it starts with affirmations. It starts with personal self talk in a positive way. It starts with replacing by releasing and reaching and then reframing right the three R's. And so that's my, that's my tip for this week. I would pick an affirmation and mine is always yeah, mine is always. Time is on my side, time's on my side, time's got my back.

Speaker 1: 21:00

Time is on my side. That's a great old song, and it's so true Time is on my side.

Speaker 2: 21:05

Time works with me and for my best interest. That's a great one, right.

Speaker 1: 21:10

Yeah, I love it, absolutely love it and definitely, you know, connect with us because I think when you have people who are on the same journey, these things do get easier. Yes, it does take effort to be aware of your thoughts and be aware of your words, but it's always easier when you are in a community and in partnership with other people who are like-minded. So I would invite a friend to join you on this positivity journey and definitely connect with us at incurablepositivitycom, because we are going to keep you fired up and pointed in the right direction when it comes to time and all the other areas in life where we can apply positive thinking.

Speaker 2: 21:54

Yeah, positive thinking is powerful. Positive energy is powerful. It's the energy of manifestation. I believe in moving forwards every day and upping your vibration and not sinking down into that trauma, that negativity. I know sometimes you've got to go there. I'm not unempathetic to it. But somebody asked me today Angie as well, do you think that you have to go deep down into the traumas to get through things and to let go of things? And I said no, I actually don't. I actually think there's a time and place for it. And I'm not saying don't acknowledge it, because I'm all about facing reality. But I think you know what, at the end of the day, we're here to lift each other up. We're here to support each other. We're here to encourage and see the light and the goodness in everybody, and everybody has it. So why don't you just be that person that shows up in the world, in your family, in your community, in your workplace, and creating that ripple of incurable positivity? People like being around positive people. I got to say it.

Speaker 1: 22:57

They just do yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:58

Right.

Speaker 1: 22:59

Yeah, you said something earlier that shook me to my core. You said, um, learning to think again, learning to think again, and I it it. You talk about going back to past trauma. You know, it doesn't matter why you do what you do today. It really doesn't matter why. All that matters is, I mean, it's an interesting exercise to go back and figure out.

Speaker 1: 23:21

You know what happened. Whatever, I mean, that's like you said, there's a time and a place for that. But you have to live today and you have to function today and you have to, you know, make your impact in the world today. And what's more important is to decide who you're going to be today. Who are you now? And you get to decide that you have that power. I am a witness, I'm proof, living proof, that you can be one way and then decide I don't want to show up in the world like that anymore.

Speaker 1: 23:52

And that is what happened to me is being the master of my own existence, and that was a powerful moment. So I would say think again. Like you've been taught to think or conditioned to think in one way for decades, and now it's time to think again and choose a new path. And, yes, it will take effort in the beginning. I won't lie to you. It takes effort in the beginning to stay constantly aware. But boy, oh boy, does it get easier each day you make a decision to think a new thought to replace those old negative thoughts.

Speaker 2: 24:30

Yep, and you know what I'm gonna wrap that up with this perspective? Because somebody sent me this through Instagram today and I absolutely loved it. You know, people send me memes all the time, really positive ones, and this one was great because it speaks to what you just said about you get to choose every day and live every day for who you want to be. And it was a meme and it said said we? It was like snoopy and charlie brown right sitting on a dock and charlie brown says we only live once. Snoopy and snoopy said wrong, we only die once. We live every day. Powerful, we live every day. Yeah, we live every day. So with that, right, so with that we're going to wrap this up.

Speaker 2: 25:17

You choose to live every day however you want to, and today we were talking about time and the relationship with time and how to have a better one, how to have a positive one. We hope this was supportive for you to do that. If you like this podcast, leave us some stars, leave us some reviews so other people can find it, and we will see you on another episode soon. If you love this episode, be sure to hit that subscribe button, leave us a review and head over to incurablepositivitycom, where you can get access to lots more resources. The community and myself and Angie where we go live with book club and talk about everything. Positivity we love you, we appreciate all of you and until next time, stay positive.