Finding the Time

How often have you heard that?

I need to find the time, so I can get that project finished…

As soon as I find the time, I’ll get started on that thing I really want to do…

When I find the time, I’ll finally get to all of those things I’ve been dreaming about…

It’s a myth

There’s no such thing as finding time. If there’s something you want to do, you find the time by making a date with it. By making it a priority.

That’s not rocket science, and yet it can be so hard to get started. Or get finished.

The problem is our perception

When you’re thinking you need to find the time for something, that’s often code for:

“I’m pretty sure this is going to take a bazillion years, or be really difficult, and I don’t have the time to do it the way I think it needs to be done.”

Oh, hello perfectionism. You again.

And also, hello completely unreasonable idea of how long something is going to take.

I’ve been doing this myself recently.

The workshop I’m co-teaching with Janine Adams is coming up in less than a month. And the early-bird price ends on Tuesday, 7/17. I’ve been trying to find the time to create a Facebook event for it on the Perception Studios Facebook page.

Which of course means that I was trying to find the 87 hours I believed I would need to create the page. Of course, I couldn’t find the time. Who has 87 hours, and if I did, who wants to spend 87 hours creating an event on Facebook?

Apparently, I overestimated.

Today I committed to doing it no matter how long it took. And, I finished it.

Guess how long it took. Less. Less. Less. Yep, 17 minutes. It took exactly 17 minutes to create the event page. I think I spent more time rationalizing how I didn’t have time to do it, than I actually spent doing it.

What could you start with just 15 minutes?

You might be surprised how many projects are actually tasks and can be completed quickly. The one that always surprises me is clearing off my desk.

Even if you can’t finish something in 15 minutes or so, 15 minutes is a good place to start. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but did you know that just 15 minutes a week for a year (with a couple weeks off for vacation) ends up being over 12 hours total?

Even more crazy, just 15 minutes per day, over the course of a year (with a good number of days off), totals 80 hours. Yes, that’s eight zero. Two full work weeks.

What dream could you bring into being with two full weeks of time?

 

Photo Credit: Clocks, Maps, Calendar & Crew by AGeekMom on flickr

 

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