Time. Sometimes we wish we had more of it, sometimes we will it to go quicker, sometimes we feel like it’s running out, sometimes we’re waiting for the right time, and we ALL want to make the most of it!
Is that really possible? To make the most of every nanosecond?
First let’s take some time (see what I did there?!) to explore WHY we have this insatiable craving for MORE time.
WHY?
At one time ‘work/life balance’ was a hot topic. Today, after nearly a year in COVID, most of us are doing some kind of ‘home hybrid’ so let’s think about work and life in terms of integration instead, as they do clearly go hand in hand.
Most of us have it backwards. We ‘do all the stuff’ then ‘try to find time’ for our IKIGAI (thing that lights us up deeply.) Let’s recognize that we all need some ‘play time’ in our days, something unstructured and/or fun, time to unwind and kick off the stresses of the day, but since (mostly) we don’t schedule this into our routines as a necessity, we end up crashing instead and ‘wasting’ that valuable R&R time.
Does this sound familiar?
It has been a long day. So you sit blankly in front of the TV, telling yourself you should be doing something productive, but you just can’t find the energy. (Hint, telling yourself this stuff erases any energy you may have found.) If it’s not TV, you are most likely scrolling aimlessly on social media – or my favorite – both at the same time. Your brain and body in moments like these is rebelling and telling you “I need rest.”
You’re escaping into a haze of nothingness and, boy, does it feel good. YES! You need rest. Your primitive brain is taking over; it’s what you need. And as mentioned earlier- then the voice often comes. That niggling voice shaming you and making you feel guilty. NOT HELPFUL. Living like this creates cognitive dissonance. No wonder people drink.
Revenge Bedtime Procrastination- are you experiencing this?
Have you heard of ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’? It’s described as, “a phenomenon in which people who don’t have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early in order to regain some sense of freedom during late night hours.”
Those who feel that work takes up most of their time, or that they lack the feeling of control over their time prey victim to this more often than those who schedule in their time to chill. We all want some time to ourselves to do nothing. It can be so bad for some people that it has a compound effect in their day-to-day lives because they’ve stayed up too late (and possibly had too much to drink) and their ability to fire on all cylinders the following day abandons them.
The Planning Fallacy
Research also suggests that we have a tendency to underestimate the time it will take us to get things done due to ‘optimism bias’.
When attempting to predict how long something will take you, if you exhibit the optimism bias, this is called the ‘Planning Fallacy’.
What’s more, this bias overrides our ability to accurately predict how long things will take us, EVEN IF we’ve done them plenty of times before. So, this is going to have a huge impact on how you schedule your day and you’ll likely find that the time you set aside to rest, or play has been eaten into by needing to complete your to-do list tasks.
I’ll be covering more about HOW you can combat this in my next blog post, but for now, just let that information sink in and ask yourself…
What would you REALLY WANT if time did not exist?
Yes, it’s time to fantasize and visualize what your day would look like if you had all the time in the world.
- How would it feel to have no pressure of deadlines looming?
- How would you go about your business?
- Would you set yourself a routine?
- Would you abandon all routine safe in the knowledge things will get done when they get done?
- What’s your favorite part about this new timeless world?
- What do you love the most?
Leveraging your deep desires
Now, of course, we’re never going to be utterly free of time-constraints and I’ll tell you why that’s a GOOD THING in my next blog. But for now, let’s focus on what you’ve learnt from your visualization.
There will have been a few things that came to mind, things you would 100% continue to do if time was no concern. Hold onto those things; they’re important. I bet they’re things you currently WANT to do but find you don’t have time for. So, what you’re saying is that these things are of huge importance to you, and that they would become your priority when your time isn’t occupied elsewhere?
Let’s see what we can do about that… in my next blog.