We all have the same 24 hours
Almost at every occasion I work with a group of people, the topic of better managing time and reducing workload comes up. The good news is, we all have those same 24 hours of time to play with every day to live our lives. It’s all about how we individually spend our time and how we get that rewarding feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.
So, here’s a few things I have learned over the years, practiced and improved:
Life balance
Just by saying work-life balance; this implies that your life stops in the morning when you start work and when heading home, your life starts again. Everything you do is about your life and how you decide to balance all elements that makes it your life. There’s no golden rule in how you should divide your time, everyone is different, and we all have unique expectations and needs. However, there’s one thing to ask yourself each and every day:
Do I balance my time, my life on things that give me a feeling of accomplishment and pride?
Wake up with ‘the end’ in mind
If you have been following me, I am a big believer in daily rituals especially at the start of the day (read my note The power of a daily ritual). Ask yourself what, realistically, you want to accomplish that day and how you’d like to feel at the end of the day. If you want to eat healthy or drink no alcohol, then visualise the people you’ll meet that day, the meetings you will be having and see yourself ordering that salad and soda water. If you want to be on time to pick up the kids from school, carve out to leave 15min earlier than usual and stick to it. Before you dive in, set your intentions around the things important to you.
Every bit of change hurts
I was talking with a client the other day to assist with setting life goals. This sound pretty big, however in essence it’s not so hard as long as you are honest with yourself. For him one goal was to be more present in general and especially now while his two young children were growing up. In order to do this, it meant he had to face his boss to abort his participation in a high-profile project to literally free more time to be present with his kids. Of course, this is a very straightforward example, but the thing here is: when time is limited, we have to make choices to effect bits of change. And…those choices often hurt, cause pain or a short-term inconvenience. Because if it wouldn’t hurt, then it would not be an issue and you would have done this in the first place.
One last thing…
Some people will only change if the pain of not changing will be greater than the pain of change itself…
Have a wonderful festive December month.
Warm greetings,
Jos
PS: watch out for new dates and programs for our 2020 retreats at Domaine Lescure in southern France. Introducing ‘Breathing Space’. An opportunity to unplug, decompress and turn inwards. And to re-connect to who you really are, through nature and the beauty of the everyday.
