You’d think, given the fact that we’ve been locked down and restricted from living a “normal” life for a large part of the year, that time may have gone more slowly…but somehow it sped up!
With only seven weeks to Christmas, typically this is the time of year where our anxiety starts to go to another level.
The lead up to December is like that slow climb to the top of a rollercoaster – there’s a nervous anticipation in the pit of your stomach, your heart rate begins to rise and you start to wonder how your decisions have led you to this point.
As soon as you tip over the edge into December, there’s no turning back. All you can do is grip onto the edge of your seat and hope you don’t fall off. You basically black out until Boxing Day, when you eventually come round a few kilos heavier and filled with regret.
I don’t know about you, but I reckon it’s time to change that story and do things differently.
In my experience, the catalyst to this madness is usually your perception of time. Remember at the beginning of this email I said time sped up? No it didn’t! That’s physically impossible.
But this perceived lack of time has a MASSIVE impact on the way we think, feel and behave. It sends us into panic mode, which means we operate from our emotional brain, which means we’re more prone to poor decisions, reactive behaviour and sabotaging ourselves.
Here’s the thing: You will never have more time.
So rather than flooding your brain with thoughts about how you don’t have enough and wish you had more, accept that it is what it is and follow these simple steps:
- Take a moment to write down all the things you need to do for that day or week
- Prioritise them from A – D:
- A – Absolutely must get done or bad things will happen
- B – Be good to get done and will have a positive impact on you and your goals when you do
- C – Could get done but doesn’t impact you or your goals greatly
- D – Delegate or Delete
- Focus on each task in order from A – D. Don’t allow yourself to move on to tasks in the next category until you’ve finished the current one, as these tasks will give you the greatest return on your efforts
- When you feel stressed about time and all the things you need to do, simply remind yourself that you can only ever take action in the moment and ask yourself, “What’s one thing I can do right now to move me closer to my goals and serve what’s important to me?”
By creating a clear plan of everything you need to do, you take away uncertainty, which in itself keeps you out of fight or flight mode and in your logical brain.
And by committing to focusing on each moment as it comes, rather than getting carried away with thoughts and worries of “shoulda, woulda, coulda”, you make the most efficient use of your time – meaning you get more done and ultimately you “feel” like you have more time…and then you get even more done.
By simply changing your perception of time you can change the way you feel, the way you respond and the way you experience life. So you can get a whole lot more done…while having fun!
P.s. If you don’t fancy taking control of your time (or you need a genuine distraction for a few minutes), try this!
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