Design and create a life and business that you love by joining my at my upcoming Blueprint for Success workshop, a two-day transformational experience where you’ll walk away with your own unique blueprint to create unstoppable momentum in your business & life.
We all face the challenge of TIME.
The challenge of feeling like we have enough time to do and accomplish all that we want to get done is rare. It can be very frustrating when it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to build our dreams.
Here’s the deal though…
Our dreams don’t become our reality on accident or by default. They need US! They need OUR TIME and ATTENTION in order to grow. There’s no way around it.
However, one of the greatest objections I hear from students and coaching clients is that they “just don’t have the time.”
My initial thought is, “You don’t have the time NOT TO chase after and build your dream!” You trade the days of your life for where you spend your time!
As much as I understand where they’re coming from, I don’t always believe it’s a time issue.
Let me explain.
When it comes to time, there’s no discrimination. No one gets more or less, you can’t buy it no matter how rich you are and you can never get it back once it’s passed.
So how is it that some people can accomplish so much and create a life and business they love?
Here’s what I know, we’ve all been given creative abilities and it’s our duty to create a life that allows us to serve and contribute at our highest ability.
That’s my job, your job, it’s everyone’s job.
Those who master the art of ‘Making Time Where There is No Time’ are positioned for success and fulfillment. They are the ones maximizing not just their investments, but also their true potential!
Therefore, in order to design and create a life and business that we love, even while we have a ton on our plate, requires us to learn to create time where there is no time.
My intention is to help you maximize every moment of every day so that you can create a more successful and fulfilling life and business.
Yes, even while you are busy and have a lot on your plate!
Now here’s some hard truth…
To say, “I just don’t have the time” is really just a lack of clarity on HOW to best use your time to achieve what matters most to you.
When I started building my business from scratch, I had NO idea how I was going to get done what I wanted and needed to get done. I had this dream, but I mean come on, I worked full time, I was going to school to get my master’s degree, I had a busy social life, I had responsibilities around my house…
…how was I going to do it all…?
On the surface, I couldn’t see more than 30 minutes here and 10 minutes there. I knew that wouldn’t be enough. If anything, those minutes were just a tease. I needed to dig deep and make some new decisions on how and where I was spending my time.
So I dug deep… real deep…. and with the help of my mentors and my peers I was able to come up with a real, fool-proof time management process.
I call the process the “4 Steps to Make Time Where There is NO Time”.
Like I said earlier, we’ve all been given creative abilities, and it’s our duty to create a life that allows us to serve and contribute at our highest ability. I want to see you maximize your investments and your true potential. I want you to live the life you have always dreamed of and deserve.
I’m going to help you do that by sharing my 4 steps below.
Step 1: EXERCISE THE LAW OF PRIORITIES
The Law of Priorities says that, ‘Leaders understand activity is not necessarily accomplishment.’
John C. Maxwell, the #1 leadership expert in the world, says this regarding the Law of Priorities:
“When we are busy, we naturally believe that we are achieving, but busyness does not equal productivity. Activity is not necessarily accomplishment. Prioritizing requires leaders to continually think ahead, to know what’s important, to know what’s next, and to see how everything relates to the overall vision. That’s hard work. Prioritizing causes us to do things that are at the least uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful.”
Please don’t miss out on understanding what John is saying here.
He’s talking about knowing and having clarity on your purpose and vision and then prioritizing your time and activities to honor and serve that grander purpose and vision.
In order to truly prioritize, you must know your purpose and vision.
If you want to break out the torturous cycle of feeling like you never have enough time, then you must have clarity on your purpose and vision. It makes decision making with your time sooooo much easier when you align yourself with what matters most to you.
You can be busy all day, and not really get anywhere purposeful.
I say, become addicted to PURPOSEFUL PROGRESS, not BUSYNESS. Progress makes us humans happy. Seek purposeful progress, not exhaustion from empty busyness.
When you know what you want and why you want it, it’s so much easier to create an action and accountability plan that honors it. You’ll achieve your greatest accomplishments much faster than aimlessly taking on more and more purposeless tasks and projects.
Have clarity. Know what you want, why you want it, and HOW it serves your highest and greatest good.
Do you have that clarity?
Could you articulate your purpose and vision in a few sentences?
Your very first step is to prioritize your time through your purpose and vision. That usually requires us to make some sacrifices.
Step 2: EXERCISE THE LAW OF SACRIFICE
The Law of Sacrifice says that, “A leader must give up to go up.”
When I started building my business, waking up 2 hours early every day was a SACRIFICE. It was painful. It took a lot of effort. But pretty quick I began to see the tremendous reward of this sacrifice. I loved seeing the progress and transformation. Remember, progress makes us happy humans!
See your sacrifices as a pathway to purposeful progress.
I gave up sleeping in, my lunch hours, hobbies, some weekend time, and I spent LOTS of money on myself and my business. On the surface that may sound difficult, and honestly there were times it was difficult…
…however I gained more than I ever could have imagined.
My freedom as a business owner, getting to live my dream, to feel alive and fulfilled, to feel powerful, and to contribution to the world in a way that I’ve been designed to… has been priceless!
I am now a better person, friend, wife, mom, and business woman because of those sacrifices.
I would never have made it to where I am now without making those sacrifices. I would still be working a 9 to 5, chained to a desk, being a robot for 70% of my day, feeling like something was missing and not making the difference and contribution I am put on this planet to make.
Yeah, no thanks.
I gladly sacrifice.
What sacrifices are you willing to make in order to live your dreams?
Your next step is to determine which sacrifices you need to make. Once you decide, you may wonder how on earth you’ll have the time to do those things, which leads to Step #3…
Step 3: TAKE INVENTORY OF YOUR TIME!
Before you can take big action to move forward, you must first take an inventory of your time.
You need to know your starting point. You can’t go from point A to point B if you don’t even know what point A is!
You need to know what you’re working with first.
Create a tracking sheet of your entire week, Monday through Sunday. From morning until night in 15-minute increments. Capture EVERYTHING you do throughout your day in 15 or max 30-minute intervals. Look for all your non-purposeful and non-productive activities. Things that don’t contribute to your purpose, vision or your growth.
I know I know, what a pain in the neck to sit down and capture for an entire week! Sure it is, but I guarantee you, you’ll find more time to work with than you think. I had no idea how much time I wasted on non-purposeful and non-productive activities such as watching TV, browsing the internet, sleeping in every morning, etc.
Before I knew it myself… I had over 3 HOURS PER DAY that I could put toward building my business.
That’s 21 hours per week!
It’s amazing how quickly and easily you’ll find hours of time to use more purposefully!
Step 4: GET CREATIVE USING YOUR AUTOPILOT TIME!
Take a look at your tracking sheet of your inventoried time.
What are the things you do that don’t require much of your conscious awareness, but rather are activities that you are doing primarily out of habit? For example, showering, getting ready in the morning, making meals, eating, driving, working out, filing, standing in line, in a waiting room, grocery shopping, making your bed, washing dishes, etc. These are what I call “auto pilot” activities.
Believe it or not, most people are on autopilot 70% of their day.
What if you purposefully took a portion of that time and used it to invest in yourself? What if you listened to an audio book or watched a training video?
If you’re building a business and/or just looking to better yourself in life, it’s amazing how you can turn all those “autopilot” activities into a time to learn and grow with purpose. Talk about a return on your time!!
I bring my tablet into the kitchen when I’m cooking and I watch videos and listen to audio books all the time.
I am constantly watching or listening to something. Constantly. This morning I was listening Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins.
I listen in the car, I listen in the grocery store, I listen while waiting at the doctor’s office or dentist, I listen while I make my lunch, I listen while I fold laundry. Sometimes it’s only 10-15 minutes at a time, but it all adds up.
You can use any tablet, mp3 player and even your smart phone plays audio files and videos.
I’d estimate that you should easily be able to find 60 minutes or more per day.
That’s 7 hours per week!
So GET CREATIVE with how you use your autopilot time.
As you put together your action plans and you’re asking yourself, “Where on earth am I going to find the time to do this?” just remember…
Review the 4 key steps to Make Time Where There Is NO Time:
- Exercise the law of priorities
- Exercise the law of sacrifice
- Take an inventory of your time
- Get creative with your Autopilot time
Now, every time I share these 4 steps…
…the number one barrier people face next is that they don’t have clarity on their purpose and vision.
They sort of know what it is, but don’t have crystal clear clarity.
Honestly, not having clarity on purpose and vision is the number one reason why so many people struggle to master the art of making time where there is no time!
If you want to break out the torturous cycle of feeling like you never have enough time, then you must have clarity on your purpose and vision. Period.
Since most people struggle with this, I want to help you!
I have created a LIVE workshop called Blueprint for Success where I help you create your own unique blueprint for success that captures your purpose, vision, passion, plan and guide you to your next step for living into that purpose.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll not only feel like a spark has been ignited inside you, you’ll also see a new path forward for your life that you designed. A life where every single waking minute of the day, you are truly living in alignment with your highest and greatest good, and you are your most fulfilled and happiest.
I want that for you, because you were not created to settle for empty busyness …
…you are created for greatness!
So don’t wait!
…come spend the day with me at the Blueprint for Success Workshop!
…and start living into your greatness.
– Melissa V. West
About Melissa V. West
Melissa V. West is the founder and President of Xtreme Results, LLC – a powerful catalyst for life transformation. She encourages business professionals to rediscover their passion and empowers them to create the amazing life of their dreams. She shares this message worldwide through coaching, training, mentoring, and keynote speaking. Melissa isn’t just a business owner, but also a wife and mom. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.
