How would you like to have a 25 hour day?
Okay, so we both know that is not a possibility unless some governing body decides to shrink every hour by a few minutes and re-calibrate the clock. So, let me pose a different question…How would you like to feel like you have a 25 hour day?
The key to feeling like time is abundant as opposed to scarce is to plan well each day. But this is the rub isn’t it? Who has time to plan? Planning appropriately takes dedicated time in which you are doing nothing but sitting quietly and planning. It is my experience that most people feel too harried and rushed to do this. I frequently train large groups on planning. Many times I am working with productive people in business, often those in management positions or entrepreneurs. During the session I will take an accounting of how much time people spend planning each day and how many people use a planning tool, such as an online tool, a hand-held device, or a notebook of some kind. It is unbelievable to me how many of the group plan little if at all. The ones that do plan, typically plan only in their work life.
If you are not a planner, I don’t even need to tell you that neglect is creeping into many important corners of your life and causing you to have crisis.
Both of these outcomes lead to feeling out of control. If you don’t plan at all, then you live your life in reaction. You tend to spend little time in your true priorities because you are reacting to everyone else’s immediate needs…which usually has little to do with your needs. If you plan only in your work life, then the rest of your life, which is way bigger than work, spins out of control because there is no plan in place. Essentially your priority becomes work, and then the rest of your time is about everyone else’s priorities outside of work. This is a blueprint for disaster.
The time/plan catch-22 is this: We don’t feel like we have time to plan…because we aren’t planning. The only way to feel like we have the time is if we plan in the first place! If you are not a planner, I don’t even need to tell you that neglect is creeping into many important corners of your life and causing you to have crisis. The only way to stop this, is to step off of the merry-go-round, take a few minutes to assess your priorities, then plan in them every day. It has been said, and I know it to be true, that 15 minutes of time spent planning is worth an extra hour of productivity. So if you want a 25 hour day, simply plan 15 minutes each day! After you create the habit, you’ll be in a groove which requires only 5 minutes of planning. If you don’t know what to do, order a copy of my book “Live Full, Live Well” and follow the chapter on Life Management.
