Who's Got Time For That?

Happy Monday!

Did you wake up today with a laundry list of things that need to be done this week?

Are there still a few things from last week that didn’t get finished that you’re trying to cram in, too?

Did you wake up in the middle of the night and write notes to yourself so you wouldn’t forget either a brilliant idea or something that’s been nagging at you all weekend?

By the way, how’s that blog and podcast coming?!

In fact, all your social media activities—are you keeping up?

And errands … I’ve got some of those, too—how about you?

SOCIAL MEDIA CAN SUCK OR BE USEFUL

If you’re like me, you’ve got a full-time job, a middling social life and a few as yet unfulfilled dreams. 

And a desire to live life fully and fully awake. With no regrets. 

It’s difficult at times to think then that communicating with someone I cannot see and touch is more important than folding the laundry or having dinner with a friend.

So I either need to change my mindset or my priorities.

Because there is enough time for what’s important.

There’s a great line from Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2): 

“For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Meaning, if I can shift my thinking to identify and recognize what’s significant about social media instead of focusing on the soul-sucking waste of time so much of it can be, then I can find value in engaging with it.

I can use this exercise as a way to go to the word gym.

I can build my vocabulary, my editing skills and my ability to communicate useful information succinctly and directly.

That would create value in this process and prioritize it.

And that would be worth my time … and hopefully yours, too.

ANY ACTIVITY CAN DRAIN YOU OR FEED YOU

Where else in my life can shifting my perspective help me to be more productive within my day? How about in yours?

What am I viewing as a burden or unnecessary that from a different angle might actually be helpful and enrich my life?

Where could I say yes instead of no, or no instead of yes?

Now, there are many things that crop up during the day that I ignore.

Activities and tasks that no amount of mindset shifting will ever make meaningful or useful.

I have to be clear on what matters to me to be able to figure that out.

I may even misjudge a task but more often than not, I make the right choice in the moment when I’m acting in alignment with my values.

HAVE SOME COMPASSION FOR YOURSELF

Can you forgive yourself if you make a mistake?

How can you view an error as an opportunity rather than a source of shame?

Finding opportunities for compassion is such a better endeavor than looking for ways to beat the crap out of yourself.

When we look at all the ways we may be wasting time, this is right up there at the top of the list.

Nothing good ever came out of being humiliated or humiliating oneself.

Appropriate disappointment or frustration is to be expected when things don’t go the way you had hoped or planned.

But pummeling yourself and ripping apart your self-esteem undermines your ability to try again.

Failure breeds failure and success breeds success.

Anything you can do to bolster your confidence EVEN IN THE FACE OF a mistake will take you much further than character assassination will.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Your mindset is key to how you meet a task or activity and find value in it.

Some tasks will never be worth your time. Use your values to determine this—not your feelings.

Forgive yourself for any inconsistencies and failures as you build this muscle. 

As Emerson said:

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could, some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Are you tired of the story of “too much to do and not enough time?” Would you love to get an extra hour or more back into your week without any gimmicks AND for free? Check out this cheatsheet I put together for you—it’s my gift and a great way to jump start your decluttering.