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Prioritising Priorities
When you’ve finally decided what it is you really want, you can plan to make it happen, accordingly.
Start by making a list of how your week currently pans out. This way you’ll discover why so much of your time may be being wasted on trivialities, enabling you to shift your attention onto what’s important, as opposed to regularly being distracted or pulled away towards the urgent.
Firstly, only include those activities that take place in an average or typical week. Secondly, don’t include the things you intend to do, but rarely, or never, get round to doing!
Give the following a go as a guideline:
Preparation time This includes time spent getting up, dressing, undressing, shaving, applying make-up, doing your hair, using the bathroom, cleaning, cooking, housekeeping, washing the car, doing the school run, doing the laundry, shopping, ironing, commuting, sitting in traffic, queuing up for stuff ….….you can tell what a typical week with my tribe looks like, can’t you?!!??
Working time (where, seriously, I go to have a rest!!) How many hours each day do you spend working?
Recreation time Include watching TV, playing sports, going to the gym, gardening, DIY, walking the dog, socialising with friends, family, your partner – anything you consider to be relevant to leisure.
Development time Give some thought to this category as it includes anything you see as a means of personal growth or development. This may be mental, emotional, spiritual or physical, so feel free to include study time, reading, learning a new skill, meditating and praying.
Time out This is the time we spend doing nothing – and I mean, nothing – zilch, niente, rien, kuch nahee!! No TV, music, conversation, company or stimulation of any kind. This is time spent totally alone, so only fill this category if you’re in the habit of setting aside time to do absolutely nothing.
Pampering time There may be quite a few things that you consider to be pampering but, as a tip, only include things that you have made a conscious effort to include in your week. For example, if your kids go to bed early one night, and you manage to find time for that relaxing bath, don’t include that. On the other hand, if you’ve booked yourself a massage or a pre-planned treat of some kind, make sure you do include this, as it’s a dedicated activity you’ve chosen to focus on.
This list is intended to keep things simple. You may need time yourself for an entire week to find out how much time you actually spend on all the above. You may even come up with a few more areas you want to include, such as regular hospital or doctor’s appointments. Feel free – it’s your list. The aim here is to work out exactly what you’re doing with your time. If you don’t know, how can you plan ahead or even decide what to focus on?
Once you know what you’re doing with your time, you can then decide what you actually want to do with it. The response I often get from clients is: “well, if it was that easy, I’d already be doing it”. For some reason, there’s an assumption that doing what you want with your time involves only doing things that you like. The factor of choice is often overlooked. So, let’s focus for a moment – the time you invest produces a result. You may not like the task very much, but the result is desirable. Therefore, you choose to do it. Review your weekly list: how many things on it can you say that you were forced to do? Be honest: there will be consequences if you don’t do them, yes, but can you really say you had no choice in the matter?
This issue of time (which is all an illusion, by the way!), seems to cause people the greatest of dilemmas, people who refuse to accept any responsibility for how they delegate it, preferring to claim that other people control their time. Unless you are being held prisoner, in some godforsaken place, against your will, is there really any substantial argument that others govern YOUR time?
So, to conclude, make a list of how your average week pans out. Set aside the necessary time to achieve your goals. Decide what changes you want to make, i.e. what stays and what goes. Remember to connect with your values when setting your goals – your time will feel compromised if your values are being challenged. If you’re constantly battling with the issue of time, find out what possible excuses (not the same as reasons!) are preventing you from coming out a winner. Finding time for anything requires forward planning. Don’t look like a busy fool – seriously, it’s not a good look! If you want to achieve any goal, don’t expect the time to appear out of thin air – you have to make the time to enjoy it, so make it mean something – it’s certainly not a commodity to be wasted – tempus fugit, my friends, so let’s carpe diem!