How to Break the 'I Just Don't Have the Time' Addiction

“I just don’t have the time!”

How many times a week do you hear or say that phrase? In the work that I do, I hear this comment many times throughout the course of my day.We are so busy reacting to life, that the average individual in Corporate America doesn’t realize they have become addicted to that story. Many people have given up trying to be proactive and instead just react.The reasons for, “I just don’t have the time” are endless…technology, your company’s culture, both adults in the family having to work to pay for the life you live. The list could go on and on. But, I have a way that you can be more productive, happier with yourself and live a life that’s more in alignment with who you truly are. The strategyprobably won’t surprise many of you who have worked with me. However, it WILL work for you if you do it with regularity.

Here’s the Plan

Create a written vision for the different components of your life (self, family, business, financial). Vision is your desire future state. Vision is the beginning of everyone’s time management. Vision is the touchstone that you use to prioritize what’s important to you in the NOW. Once you write out your vision for each of your categories, refer to it every day.Below are three easy steps to make sure you’re giving each category the correct amount of attention on a daily basis. Step One At the end of each day, block out 30-minutes to:

List your star moments of the day – what did you do well, accomplish, achieve that truly made you feel great

Look at your calendar for the next day and make sure you are prepared for every appointment

Based on your goals in each category, think through important actions that need to be done the next day. Find a spot in the day to do it and block it out on your calendar

Close your eyes and spend two-minutes visualizing the day unfolding the way you want it to be. Use your five senses to make it real (see, hear, smell, taste, and touch). I recently heard someone say it this way, “doing beforehand”. Basically, you are acting into your desires throughout the day and it creates a feeling of déjà vu.

Next, let go and believe it will happen and expect the Universe to deliver answers to you all day that you never thought of. I promise, this will start happening

Step Two This takes less work and energy – spend twenty-minutes at the very beginning of each day to confirm what your calendar is and what your expectations are

Make any adjustments to your schedule or any upcoming events that you will have today

Add any creative ideas that will make each event more valuable

See the movie of your day in your minds-eye again. Spend a minute or two to expand your gratitude of it happening by using your five senses to anchor it within you

Know that the calendar just has to catch up with what’s already inside of you

Let go and live your movie

Step Three Mid-day, take fifteen-minutes to focus on the rest of the day

Make adjustments

Add any creative ideas to make your afternoon events more valuable

Remind yourself to be in the now, relaxed, calm, patient and knowing. That your internal movie will become your outside reality

Fill your mind and heart with gratitude. Gratitude for everything you are, have and experience in your life. Gratitude becomes the magnetic force that pulls to you all the bounty you need to have a life of abundance

Related: Where Do You Stand on the Accountability Continuum?At the end of the day, start this process over again with step one.I have found the most difficult part of these three steps is creating the habit of doing each step, every day. However, when you begin practicing this strategy of mindfulness, your life will change.Remember, we all have “all the time in the world”. The question is, what do you want ( vision)? Create your plan. Every ‘want to’ has a list of ‘have to’s’ for it to become a reality. Success takes action!Respect yourself enough to dedicate your life to you. Stop and make the investment of sixty-five minutes a day in the most important resource you have…YOU!I’ll leave you with this quote, “You have to slow down, to get ahead”.