How to make time

You’re busy. I’m busy. We’re all freaking busy. At any given moment countless tasks are vying for your attention. There’s a lot going on, and you’re having a hard time balancing it all. Overwhelmed. Still, you have a dream in mind. There’s a little nagging thought asking you what if…

What if you wrote that book?
What if you started that Youtube channel?
What if you started that business?
What if you illustrated that children’s book?
What if you started painting seriously again?
What if…
What if…
What if…

But you dismiss the voice because obviously you don’t have time for any of the things that you want because you’re so busy!

It’s easy to look at other people doing the things you want to do and making excuses for them. Well, they have time because it’s their job. Sure, I could find time to write, too, if I was doing it full-time. But the problem with that is very few of those people got to that point without first balancing all the things.

There’s a secret I feel like most people don’t talk about when it comes to making things happen. That leap between day job and full-time dreamer looks like a whole lot of hard work.They made time for the things that helped them achieve their goals, and you can, too.

A friend messaged me last week asking how I make time to write. I’ve got a lot going on at the moment, and if I’m honest–writing usually is the first thing to get nixed from my todo list. I enjoy it the most, but bills have to get paid and there’s always something “more important” that needs my attention.

But at the start of this year, I set some intentions for myself. Like I’ve mentioned before, I spent a lot of last year aimlessly driving forward without any real clear direction. The only “goal” was to survive. But I got fed up with that reality. I didn’t want to let another year go by where I didn’t make my dreams come true. But first, I had to decide what those dreams were. And so do you.

I think we get confused by the fact that we can have multi-level goals. Or at least, I did. My daily goals look a lot different than my monthly goals, yearly goals, and ultimate goals. But what I’m going to focus on today is the ultimate goal.

For me, the ultimate goal is to be a career author.

Once I knew what the ultimate goal was, I had a few decisions to make. I obviously can’t just up and quit my job to start writing books full time. But, what I can do is start making sure I’m prioritizing the steps that’ll get me to that point and make time for those steps in my daily life.

If you’re waiting for the time to present itself to you, you’ll never get anywhere. You’re always going to be busy. Something is always going to come up. So instead, you have to make a commitment to make the time.

Let’s quickly chat goal setting:

1. Know what you want.
2. Break that goal into realistic, actionable steps.
3. Make the commitment.
4. Keep showing up.

 

Now that you know what you want, how do you make the time to make it happen?.

1. Recognize that you actually have the time. Yup, I’m sorry but it’s true. You have time. Sure, you may have to trade one thing for the other, but the time is there somewhere.
2. Determine why you want what you want. Without knowing and believing in your why, you’re never going to get very far. The want has to be there. It just has to. It has to override everything else. So find out your why and let that continue to drive you.
3. Make it a priority. Now that you know why you want it, you should have an easier time of it making it a priority. I’m not talking the kind of priority you like to tell people about. No. I’m talking the kind of priority like taking your dog out to pee or feeding your kids. Make it a non-negotiable priority.
4. Choose wisely. Every second of every day, you’re faced with decisions that ultimately trade time. When you start to think about everything from the perspective of the amount of time you’ll have to trade for it, things start to look a lot different. Are you tempted to scroll instagram while you wait for your order at Starbucks? Probably. How much time will you trade? 6 minutes? You could probably complete one task that propels you toward your goal in that time. Even for me, as a writer, I know I can hammer out a good 100+ words in 6 minutes.
5. Start saying no. This one comes up a lot, but it’s a really powerful tool in making things happen. When you stop saying yes to things that hold you back in one way or another, you’ll start to find a whole heck of a lot of time.

 

Still having a hard time making time?

Run everything through a filter. Ask yourself some important questions before you decide to commit your time to anything:

• Does saying yes to this bring me closer to my goals?
• Does saying yes to this hinder my chances of reaching my goals?
• Does saying yes to this bring me joy? Do I want to do this?
• Does saying yes to this cause me great sacrifice either short-term or in the long run.

Personal casestudy:

Ultimate goal: Become a career author.
Goal objective: Up my output
Goal breakdown: Publish at least two books each year.
Realistic, actionable tasks:
*Write 1500 words per day for 40 consecutive days twice per year.
*Commit 60 days each round to intensive revisions.
*Create repeatable marketing strategy
When: From 5:30-8:00AM weekdays. 7:00-9:00AM weekends.

I hope this post helps you to start making the time to go after what you want! I promise you have it in you. And I extra promise you actually have the time. You just need to get very intentional with how you spend it! Comment below and tell me something you want to make the time for this year!