Do not allow your time to pass by remaining unnoted. Catch it up, control it and make it work on you. We are going to tell you how to do that in this article.
After planning, the next step towards any changes in your life is organization. This means looking for resources and people who can help you in development.
There are three key resources for one’s life:
- time;
- energy;
- money.
In this article, we are going to talk about time, because it is very difficult to use this resource, but everyone has to know how to do that.
I’m sure that you used to hear phrases like: “I don’t have time for that” or “I barely have time for work even…”. Among all the resources, only time is absolutely non-renewable.
Philosopher B. Fuller told that he lived for 70 years, which consist of 600 thousand hours. For 200 thousand he slept. 100 thousand were used for eating, drinking, recovering his health. 200 thousand hours were spent for studying and earning money to live. From remaining time, 60 thousand hours were spent on the road. The rest was the time he could use for free: nearly 40 thousand hours, or nearly 1,5 hours per day.
The main question is: how to spend this time usefully?
There are tens of good books on time management written and published. I am going to share only some principles that are going to help you use this resource better.
Control
Do not get cheated by your calendar. In a year, there are only those days you can use. So, one person has only 7 days in a year, while the other one has 365.
Control your time. In order for your day to have 24 hours, not two, three or five, you need to understand clearly what you spend them for.
There are people who tell in the evening: “Well, that was another day that passed unnoted”. And there are those who spend this evening usefully: reading books, for instance, because they planned that in advance.
Start a diary, use notes, or draw crosses on your palm. You understand the importance of time only when you start noticing it. Do not let your time fly away, catch it and make it work for you.
Sacrifice
Never say you don’t have time. You have as much time as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson or Albert Einstein used to have.
I like that phrase very much. Not many people understand that everyone has equal number of hours in their day. We see people who run in the morning or can make overtime work in time, and ask: how do they do that?
Everything is simple here: these people sacrificed something. You need to understand, that the goal to develop a skill or to get certain results in something has to throw away all other tasks from your schedule.
There are students staring at their smartphones during lectures, and there are those who listen to the lecturer attentively. There are those who sleep at 7:00 AM, and there are those who meditate at the same time. There are people spending their Friday evening hanging out in the club, and those who work on their new project then.
Do not cheat yourself. Actually, the phrase “I’ll start learning Chinese” sounds like “I’ll start learning Chinese instead of spending time in the Internet”.
Mark things you are going to refuse in order to reach wanted results at once. And remind yourself that it is worth that sacrifice all the time.
Discipline
People can’t change themselves in a moment.
You have got an inspiring goal, you have your plan ready, and you start keeping up to it. Then a day, two, three days pass, but something is definitely wrong. You ask yourself: “Well, where is the result? Why am I not a millionaire yet?”
Motivational source gets exhausted. But discipline can give you more: stability in working on yourself.
Your motivation is a manual generator. We get the charge, and start spinning the charger crazily to produce the energy for changes. You’ve watched an inspiring movie, visited a training, read a book, but then days pass and you do less and less things, and finally tell: “Okay, I give up.”
Discipline is an engine. You construct it step by step, you improve it, you increase its power. If you turn it on once, it won’t stop. Yes, it is not perpetual too, but its working resource is going to be enough for you during a long time.
Form your discipline by putting small efforts every day. Constantly work on yourself, generate new habits and refuse old ones. The point is not to stop keeping up to your plan even for a minute. If it will feel too hard, tell yourself: “Man, you can give up, but tomorrow. Go on working today.” Repeat that every day.
That is not a psychological trick, that is the acceptance of the fact that you need to change now, and spend this very moment in a maximally useful way.
What to Do?
- Start a diary, download a calendar app, and buy a book on time management. Count time you have available for working on yourself.
- Before you start approaching your goal, make a list of things you have to sacrifice for it. Answer yourself what is more important for you, and start working only after that.
- Learn to be disciplined. Complete your today’s plan and continue repeating it until it becomes a part of your schedule. Remember: a habit forms a character.
