Nobody really intends to be short on time, stressed-out, anxious, while not accomplishing anything important day after day. Sound familiar? Has your daily routine evolved into this hamster wheel scenario? Does your day begin with a checklist a mile long that gets even longer by the end of the day? Days turn into weeks that turn into months that turn into years. A life that feels wasted.
Learning the difference between dreams and goals and then spending time on the habits and behaviors that help you reach your goals adds value to your life, your career, and your happiness.
Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back. – Harvey Mackay
When I was younger, I often confused the difference between dreams and goals. Sure, I had all kinds of dreams. There were materialistic things I wanted – BIG THINGS! I thought they would make my life easy and happy. When I was in college, I dreamed (and truly believed) that I would own a helicopter that took me to work each day. Who had the time for cars and traffic?
But I learned (often the hard way) that there is a difference between dreams and goals. Dreams are like mind art. They are images that can be created, changed, distorted, and manipulated using our imagination. Dreams can diverge from reality (often greatly).
Goals are specific objectives. They are concrete, definitive, and clear. They provide a roadmap for your life, your decisions, your habits, and your behaviors. With knowledge of your goals, you can write your own human software to run your personal programs that help you reach your goals. One way or another, you are going to run human software and you are going to spend your time. You might as well run the best software to reach your goals. If you accomplish your goals, you may reach your dreams.
IF YOU DON’T CONTROL YOUR TIME, SOMEONE ELSE WILL GLADLY DO IT FOR YOU
Everybody wants some of your time; your employer, your kids, your significant other, corporations, politicians, Hollywood, and the media. You need to know what you want your life to be about. What is it that you want to accomplish? What do you want to become? What are you about? How do you want to live your life?
If you are waking up every single day without knowing what your goals and your objectives are that will move your life forward on the big picture, you are going to end up just like everybody else. You will allow day after day to pass where you “just can’t find the time” to make yourself smarter, make yourself healthier, make yourself wealthier, and make yourself happier.
STOP WITH THE MADNESS!
You are never going to “find the time” to do anything different than what you are doing every day. You are going to have to “make the time” to do things that are going to change your life and transform yourself from the person you are today to the person that you want to become tomorrow. That means modifying how you use your time. You are going to have to make the time to do the tasks necessary to transform yourself. That means prioritizing based on the importance of your long-term objectives in mind;
- Maybe that is playing the guitar instead of watching YouTube music sensations of others who have practiced the guitar
- Maybe that is reading books to make yourself smarter instead of watching the crap local news, impulsively surfing the internet, or watching sitcom reruns
- Maybe that is training and exercising to make yourself healthier instead of a bag of chips or a lazy boy recliner
- Maybe it is spending more time with your spouse and kids to have better relationships at home instead of hours on social media sites
- Maybe it is starting a small business that can grow into a bigger business that gets you away from your crappy dead-end corporate job. It’s the same crappy dead-end corporate job that is going to be outsourced to a robot or someone on the other side of the earth for 10% of what they are paying you today. Wouldn’t it be better to invest that time on your own business rather than spending the extra hours at a job you hate?
That’s where a simple piece of paper and pencil can come in handy. Have you written down your goals and objectives? Have you taken an inventory of how you really spend your days? Do you know where your time is going each day?
Personal excellence is living a daily life that leads you towards your own personal goals and objectives as best as you can. That comes from implementing the discipline and habits necessary to get 1% better each day. It’s not realistic to think that you can change your entire life overnight. You aren’t going to lose 20 pounds in 10 days and keep it off for good. That’s not how things work.
You only get 24 hours in a day. But that is the same as everybody else. You don’t get more time. They don’t get more time. It’s how you use your time that matters.
Time = Life. Therefore, waste your time and you waste your life. Master your time and you master your life. – Alan Lakein
Do you have your sh!t together on time management? Are you always stressed and anxious and can’t find the time to do what is important to reach your personal goals? Have you written down your goals and objectives that allow you to find items that you should or should NOT be spending your time on?
Do I think that you can do better with your time management? Yes, I believe in you. Do you know deep down that you are capable of pulling more out of yourself? Yes, you know you can give a little bit more and dig in. You can achieve success and move the ball forward as long as you are taking steps in the right direction making progress bit by bit. Your goal today is to improve upon who you were yesterday. If you do that, there’s no telling how far you can go.
Are you spending your time on what matters and eliminating the time spent on what doesn’t? Share your answers in the comments or on social media.