OUR BLOG

How many times have you said it? “I just don’t have the time” to do x, y, or z?

My guess is plenty. We all say it. We just say it about different things.

I’ve noticed my clients saying it a lot lately, especially around doing the things they need to do in their businesses.

And, for what it’s worth, I’m not buyin’ it.

As for me, if anything, I work too much on the business. When I say, “I don’t have the time,” it’s usually around exercise or recreation. I’ll keep working even when I could and should take the time for me instead.

But come on. Is it really lack of time? Sometimes, yeah, it is … like when you just find yourself overloaded with extra work that simply has to be done, or you need to take care of a sick family member, and that crowds out everything else.

I get that, but a lot of times, what “I don’t have the time” really means is …

“I didn’t do … and am not going to do … the thing I said I was going to do, because I don’t really want to do it. It’s not as interesting or fun or non-threatening to me as _____. I’d rather spend my time on ______.”

And then we pretend we didn’t do the thing we said we were going to do because we didn’t have enough time.

The problem is we think that story is true! It’s not. It’s BS.

If something’s really important to us and we’re really committed to doing it, guess what? We DO it. We manage to find the time. It gets moved up to job number one and everything else takes a back seat.

Now, don’t misunderstand my message. I’m not telling you to buckle down and quit making excuses. Nope. What you do with your time is entirely your business. Who am I to say how you spend it?

And sometimes, not doing what you say you’re committed to doing can be a signal that you’re trying to force yourself to do something you’re not a match for. You pretend you want to do it, because you think you should.

So, no, this isn’t a get-off-your-butt lecture.

I’m just offering a simple bit of advice.

Stop kidding yourself!

Be aware that we often say we don’t have time to do something simply because we DON’T want to do it. Get honest about it and watch your power come back!

And then you can choose to look at what’s underlying your reluctance.

But here’s the core message …

A good way to keep yourself from getting what you want most in life is to fritter your time away on less important activities while telling yourself you don’t have the time to spend on the really important ones.

Life is waaaaay too short for that.

Love,
Denise

P.S. Do you manage time as effectively as you could? No? Well, you’re not alone. There’s a skill to it.

There’s an incredible assessment I use with my clients that drills down into the twelve different aspects of managing time. It helps you understand EXACTLY where you’re getting stuck and it targets the one or two things you can do to manage your time better, so you can do more, have more, and enjoy more.

The Time Mastery Profile is available online and takes about 15 minutes to complete. Your personalized profile and workbook are emailed to you within minutes. All for just $49. Check it out.

Meet Denise: Denise Hedges is a Business Development Coach and Speaker Coach for small business owners who want to be more comfortable, confident, and successful with their sales and marketing efforts. She specializes in helping them use speaking as a way to dramatically improve their results!

COMMENTS: