Oh my goodness, this is one of those phrases that just KILLS ME. Literally.
It kills me when I say it… cuz yes, I do fall prey to the same mis-aligned prioritization process,
AND, it kills me when I hear other people say it.
Think about it for a second…
Think about that “thing”, that new business, that goal that you keep putting off because you “don’t have time”.
I GUARANTEE you that someone else on this planet has achieved that goal, started that business, done “that thing” WHICH TELLS ME, if they can do it, so can you.
“But JG, you don’t understand, I don’t have time.”
Now, lets step back and consider how many hours you have in your day vs someone else…?
GOOD NEWS: you have the same amount of hours in your day as anyone else does! 24 hours. Which tells me that TIME IS NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS.
And the hard thing about this “I don’t have enough time” mindset is it kicks us into a SURVIVAL MODE. And we begin to shut down. Like we literally can’t see options, opportunity, or the forest through the trees when we feel like we don’t have enough of anything. We get weird. We isolate. We close ourselves off.
Good thing to note here though is that it’s NEVER a TIME THING.
Never.
EVER.
EVER.
So, you’re in luck.
It’s a priority thing.
“There’s no such thing as excuses or reasons… only priorities.”
That’s right. The “thing”, the goal, the dream, whatever it is that you “want” is just not THAT important to you OR you would take 5 extra minutes to REPRIORITIZE to make that thing happen.
“But JG, you don’t understand, this THING is really important to me… I NEED to lose 40 pounds, I want to write this book, I need to hire this person, I so badly want to run my own business, make more money, etc.”
I hear you.
But if you aren’t doing anything about those goals and dreams, than it’s not really that important to you because if it was, you’d MAKE the time.
IF SOMETHING IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, YOU WILL MAKE TIME FOR IT. IF SOMETHING IS NOT IMPORTANT TO YOU, YOU WON’T.
You’d get up an hour earlier.
You’d work during lunch.
You’d walk during lunch.
You’d hire someone to give you coaching support to shrink your learning curve.
You’d ask for help.
You wouldn’t go out on Friday night.
You’d save your drinking money.
You’d sell something… anything you don’t really need.
You’d cut the relationships that aren’t serving you.
You’d get online and GOOGLE anything to support clarity around HOW TO.
You’d DO something!!! WHY??? How do I know??? Cuz I believe that when something is important enough to you, you’d DO it.
My question is this: IS WHAT YOU’RE DOING THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU??
For some of you, the answer is YES. Great, keep doing it. Maybe just ask yourself if there is a quicker, better, easier, more FRESH way of doing it.
For some of you the answer is NO, it’s not. Life just started happening to you and you haven’t given yourself permission to even check in with yourself on what you wanted. GREAT. Now is your chance.
For others of you, you’re spending more time complaining about not having time when you could be using it to drive change.
But regardless of where you are or who you are, when you can own the fact that whatever you are currently spending your time on IS important to you, then you can accept it and make the changes you need to make!!!!
Couple of things to consider to gain movement in this:
1. Don’t try to eat the whole elephant at one time. It won’t happen. EXAMPLE: If you aren’t running or walking or working out at all but you want to lose weight or if you want to gain muscle but haven’t the slightest clue how to UP your game, don’t all of a sudden become a gym junkie and tell yourself you’re going to go everyday for 2 hours. You will over compensate, burn out, give up and run in shame. START SMALL. Take “one bit at a time”. Walk 1 mile, 3 days a week. Lift 5 extra pounds. Take one thing out of your diet. And as you progress and get more comfortable with it, add in more time, more miles, more gym time.
2. If you still feel STUCK and the “I don’t have time” is still keeping you from taking action, consider the thing, goal, dream you have that you, in theory, want so bad, and tell yourself: “I don’t want it that bad. It’s not that important to me.” If simply saying it makes you want to throw up or punch yourself, TAKE NOTE. Stop thinking about the things you want and just go do something about them. Those words should bring such disgust that it causes you to act! IF SOMETHING IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, YOU WILL MAKE TIME FOR IT. IF SOMETHING IS NOT IMPORTANT TO YOU, YOU WON’T.
3. Take an afternoon or a chunk of time and call it your REPRIORITIZATION reset. During this time, recognize that what got you HERE won’t get you THERE (where you want to be), which means, you’ve got to STOP doing certain things and START doing new things. In this time, write down all the things that have gotten you to where you are, good habits and bad. And then envision what it is you WANT. Get as detailed as you possibly can… what does it look like? What does it feel like to accomplish it? Who have you become? What have you learned? Now work backwards from there and ask yourself: what habits and routines would serve me in getting to that goal? Write as many as you can think of. And then, at the bottom of that piece of paper, write: I COMMIT and then sign your name. Then, put that piece of paper up on your mirror or somewhere you see it everyday (or multiple times a day).
4. Seal in your commitment by turning off your brain as it pertains to any new habits or routines you’ve set for this new dream, goal, thing to happen. Your brain isn’t going to GET IT at first. It’s not going to want to do it all the time. It’s going to make your ego go crazy and the fear/doubt radar is going to signal. You’re going to “feel tired” or like you’re “not making progress” but DO NOT LISTEN. You already committed. You’re already IN. Consciously work to IGNORE THE CHATTER so you can become and achieve what’s REALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU.
You DO have time my friend.
Lean into this world of OPPORTUNITY and CHOICE.
Begin by saying: I DO have time… what is MOST important to me?! And then begin to frame your life around those priorities.
#doyou
#livepurposed
#liveprioritized
#liveabundance
