Mick Jagger sings so confidently about having time on his side, yet, most of us feel quite otherwise. As coaches, one of the most common complaints we hear is that people don’t have enough time to do the things they dream about such as starting a business, writing a book, dating, exercising regularly, you name it…
Time shapes every aspect of our lives: our work, our relationships, and our experiences. Time really is a currency that we get to choose how to spend. The choice of how we spend our time is ultimately how we spend our lives. So, how do you transition from being at the mercy of time to being its master?
Laura May Martin, in her book Uptime, describes two ways we spend time:
Push Time: Activities that propel us towards our dreams, goals, and priorities.
Pull Time: Activities driven by others’ agendas, like interruptions and other people’s meetings.
Our aim is to maximize push time by clarifying what is most important to us—our dreams and true priorities—and ensuring we invest our time accordingly. This includes work, exercise, family, friends, or creative pursuits. Our entire calendar doesn’t need to be push, but it should have more push than pull. What we invest our time in is what flourishes so let’s invest in the items we most want to grow.
We must also recognize that we are in a relationship to time just like we are in a relationship with other people. Whether we fight it, waste it, procrastinate it, or let it control us, it is crucial that we examine our dynamic with time so that we ensure we are in charge of it rather than it being in charge of us.
Here are some tips for getting time on your side:
Define Your Priorities: Take a moment to reflect on what truly matters to you—both personally and professionally. Is it your son’s graduation? A crucial project deadline? Identify your top three priorities for the week and some high impact actions that will propel them forward.
Start with an Empty Calendar: Approach your calendar with a zero-based mindset. Instead of filling in gaps around existing commitments, start with a blank slate and allocate time based on your priorities and goals. This ensures that your schedule reflects your true intentions rather than reactive demands.
List Funnels: Use list funnels to manage tasks and ideas. Start with a master list of everything you need to do, then funnel this down to a long-term list, a weekly list, and finally a daily list. This helps you stay organized and focused on what needs to be accomplished in the now.
Calendar Everything: Start by ensuring that all essential tasks—such as meetings, school drop-offs, doctor’s appointments, exercise, showers, commutes, and grocery shopping—are allocated time slots. Next, schedule your top priority tasks. Once these are in place, begin filling the remaining gaps with items from your master list. Understand that if something doesn’t fit into your calendar, it won’t get done. Accept this reality to avoid surprises at the end of the week.
Set Boundaries: Establish key boundaries to protect your time. This could include setting limits on meeting durations, creating no-interruption zones for focused work, and defining work hours to prevent burnout. It could also mean delegating or removing yourself from certain projects or email chains.
Urgent Time: Designate a specific time each day for urgent tasks. By handling urgent matters at the same designated time daily, you can contain the chaos and prevent it from derailing your entire day.
We really can design a life that reflects our values and priorities just by getting time on our side. Then we might all have moves like Jagger!
