Time Archives - Page 84 of 89

The Goal Of Life Is…

Posted on September 14, 2020

How you finish this statement is quite telling. Not in a ‘Gotcha’ way but in a useful, self-understanding way. The goal of life is something that can change through your life. As your mind and thoughts change, so too can your view of life.

When we are younger, it seems many children think the goal of life is to run around having fun with their friends. In the teen years, many people might focus on a skill which they are proud of and sets them apart as unique.

This skill could be school related, sports, music or making pocket money. Doing well and not messing up could be the main focus for many at this time.

Things can get a little philosophical through the years too. Though I do notice this one distinction coming up frequently. For some people the objective is to just get through life while others help people get through life.

As with anything though, there are hundreds of factors that could change your mindset on this at any given moment. Some more common ones are injury, loss, success and luck.

Regardless of where you are and what you are heading toward, how would you finish that sentence. If you’re brave enough, give it a go right now.

The goal of life is…

Action Time

Move At Pace

Posted on September 11, 2020

Sometimes you feel sluggish. Or perhaps its the people around you. Maybe you are a bit directionless. That’s ok. Move at pace though once you have a clear vision and are committed.

If you know where you want to go, you may as well get there quickly. It is amazing how much quicker people will decide, move and complete once they are clear on their direction.

Which makes sense. There may not be a lot of value in racing around if you have no focused destination. So rest, reflect and consider your situation and where you might like to go in those circumstances. And as you get a stronger vision, you will start to move more quickly.

You will gain momentum. That will build up and press you forward even faster. This is demonstrated well the three days before you go on holiday. Work items get delegated, delivered or deleted at great speed.

In addition, you do start to copy the speed of those around you. So, once again, be selective with who are in your flock. It’s ok to shuffle and sway when you are on a beach holiday. But when it is time to get the work done, you will want to be around people who move at pace!

Action Time

Always Allow Two Weeks

Posted on September 10, 2020

Do you ever feel like things are down to the wire? Like you are up against time once again? My suggestion is to always allow two weeks.

There are a lot of things going on in life. And unexpected delays can occur. Actually, its not necessarily unexpected delays in my experience. It is more often delays, or actual timeframes, that could be expected.

For example, sending Christmas gifts overseas in late December and expecting them to get there on time is unnecessary stress. It is just very unlikely it will happen.

Last year, to send to Canada, using international standard mail, you needed to post before the 14th December from the UK. But you have to buy the gift and wrap and send it. And then wait in a queue at the post office. So allow two weeks for all of that before the deadline.

If you are getting a mortgage, always add two weeks to whatever the timeline is. Some people give you an accurate, or even a conservative, estimate of the time it will take. However, many will aim for the fastest time it has ever happened. That can lead to disappointment and unnecessary stress.

You always need to add a contingency. Always allow two weeks.

Gratitude Reframe your thoughts Time

That Is A Lot Of Birthdays

Posted on September 8, 2020

Every once in a while, people we know celebrate their birthday. Today, roughly 21.4 million people will celebrate. That is a lot of birthdays!

The world population is now over 7.8 billion according to Worldometer. It really is hard to imagine that number of people. And they are all quite similar to you. They breathe, eat, use the loo, require sleep and have some income or way of sustaining themselves.

In addition, more than than 7.8 billion will celebrate a birthday in the next 12 months. The reason for this is that the world’s net population growth is currently about 81,000,000 each year.

So where could you host a big party for all of the people celebrating their birthday on the 8th September? Imagine the largest stadium you have ever been in. Was it an 18,000 seater arena? Maybe a 100,000 seater football stadium?

Let’s imagine the 100,000 seater stadium. There are only 11 of these in the world. Stadiums like Michigan, Tiger and Motera along with the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Camp Nou, Wembley and Twickenham are massive but don’t have a 100,000 seat capacity.

Picture how big those stadiums are. And all the people in them. Now picture 214 of those stadiums filled to capacity. That’s how many people would be celebrating their birthday on a given day.

That is a lot of birthdays!

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts Time Weight loss

Turn Up The Heat!

Posted on September 4, 2020

Ok, it’s been an unusual start to the year so far. Things may have been out of kilter or offline. However, now it is time to turn up the heat!

I mentioned the other day how it is time to accelerate to the finish. We don’t have a lot of time left to get the things done we want completed this year. So you need to start taking massive action. Lean into these final few months and make the most of them.

Turn up the heat! Get things moving today. Work an hour longer today. Wake up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and go for that walk or jog you’ve been thinking about. I know you may be reading this on a Saturday morning. That does not mean chill out. That does not mean have a lie in. Double down on those weekend days.

Start a new habit now. Or as soon as you finish reading this. You will create a new bit of dynamism in your life. That will help you shift in other areas too. Work on your Art of Now! Do it, delegate it or dump it. The important piece though is to get moving now.

Act now! Turn up the heat!

Action Time

Plan Your Day Out

Posted on September 2, 2020

Distractions are your challenge. They may be from friends, work colleagues, children, illness, phone calls, post etc. Plan your day out. Allow some contingency time for distractions. Though it is best to limit your distractions to as few as possible. None is even better.

Take a piece of paper and write out your day. From the minute you intend to wake up until the minute you intend to go to sleep. Write it out in 15 minute intervals. Unless one activity is going to take up a longer period of time. Then write that amount of time. For example:

06:00 – 06:15 Wake up. 6 Minute miracle morning. Change for run.

06:15 – 06:30 Stretch. Loo break. Put on trainers, headphones and prepare apps.

06:30 – 07:00 Run. Listen to X podcast/audiobook/YouTube channel

Allow for ten minute breaks. Sometimes these will be used to relax. Other times they will act as catch up zones. These help get you back on track when a distraction has put you behind by five or 10 minutes.

Allow for one full hour in your day for unforeseen events. These could be phone calls you have to take from a child, parent, boss, tax inspector or a person dropping by your desk or home.

Plan your day out before you go to bed. Track how close your plan is to reality. It’s fascinating.

Action Time

Accelerate To The Finish

Posted on September 1, 2020

There are four months remaining until New Year’s Eve and we ring in 2021. That really means we have 3 months to accelerate to the finish. For a lot of people, December is filled with shopping, parties, family, preparations, holidays, school events, Christmas and New Year’s itself.

Given all of those events in December, very little else gets done. So if you are trying to make things happen with a business, strengthen a new habit or finish a project, aim to finish by 30 November.

That gives you 13 weeks to get it all sorted before December descends on us. That is plenty of time to do many things. That is roughly 65 weekdays and 26 weekend days. 91 days altogether. The other 245 days are gone.

However, you need to be focused now. Every minute needs to count. There is no longer any time to assume you can get started later or do it later. You may even have to sacrifice a little! You may need to give up on some of the scrolling, watching and time with friends.

This is your last chance to win back 2020. Make it a great year, despite the unforeseen challenges that Covid brought to everyone. You can accelerate to the finish over the next 91 days and make this year a resounding success.

Plan the details, focus on the outcome and take disciplined action. Go!

Action Time

Spending Time Wisely

Posted on August 23, 2020

It’s fascinating to watch ourselves try to save money but spend precious moments doing it. Spending time wisely is almost an art form and partly a science. Using our time on positive and useful things is much more beneficial to us than squandering it.

It is an interesting balance with time. As we do not know how much of it we will have, we want to make good and efficient use of it. In addition, we do not know how well we will be physically and/or mentally through our lifetime, even if it is a long one.

So there are trade offs. You have choices and decisions to make. And these choices are frequently adjusting to new realities. Therefore your decisions may change.

When you are young, or much older, most people have more time than money. Therefore they will wait in a 10 minute queue or walk 20 minutes to save a pound or two. As a person acquires more money they are more likely to spend it to save time, rather than spend time to save money.

You can earn more money in life but there is little you can do to extend your natural time on earth.

In addition, feed your mind with positive, hopeful, helpful and wonderful things. Spending time wisely also means making little room for complaint, anger, negative and frustrating information or entertainment. The cost is too high.

Action Financial Health & Fitness Time

Your Two Week Sprint

Posted on August 17, 2020

Let the games begin! What habits could you start? What changes could you get underway? Your two week sprint starts today! In 14 days you will have lived through what is probably the oddest first 2/3rds of a year in your life.

Your goals may be all over the place, like the airline industry. Or they may be laying in tatters after having achieved them all and then some, like Amazon.

Whichever it is, there are only a couple of weeks left in August before the world tries something it hasn’t done in 102 years. During the 1918 Pandemic the world tried to get back to normal over the summer and through the usual autumn activities. Back to work, school and life in general.

Now what can you commit to for the next two weeks? It’s not forever, its simply your two week sprint. Get yourself in decision mode. Make an unbreakable commitment to yourself. Resolve to do your 14 day habit to put you on the road to ever greater success.

We’re coming into the home stretch of this zany 2020 year. Get yourself into great shape in at least one area you’ve been thinking about all year. My sprint has goals and habits focused on food, fitness, finances, fun and non-fiction.

What are you going to achieve during this sprint?

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts Time

Wake Up To Awesome!

Posted on August 15, 2020

It gets easier to do anything that you practice and want to improve. So from now on, always wake up to awesome! Since you can choose to wake up and feel awesome every morning, why wouldn’t you?

Of course there are some exceptions. For example, if you are not used to waking up thinking it can be an awesome day, it is hard to think that it will be. But you have a choice. It may not be easy in the beginning – few things usually are.

However, we can continue to press on and improve ourselves in areas we wish to. And of all the areas we could improve, one might consider the first 6 to 60 minutes of the day would be quite important. It starts you off positive and keeps the day framed in a positive glow.

And it doesn’t need to take too long either. You can do Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning in 6 minutes. If you can’t find 6 minutes at the start of your everyday…. Well, I just won’t believe you really want it bad enough. Send me an email and I will help you. It won’t even cost you anything.

So remember the following:

Tomorrow, and everyday day hereafter, you are going to wake up to awesome!