Everything is simple, if it means something to you, if it’s important to you, you will make time. We all get 24 hours a day; but we all spend it differently. The most common “excuse” or “justification” we give is, “I don’t have time for that”. We are “busy” people, that’s ok, but truth is that’s not why you’re not doing “it”, whatever it is.
Main reason why you aren’t doing “it” is because it doesn’t matter to you enough at the moment. You currently just don’t want it as bad. Ultimately, we do what we want; good or bad. Right now, “it” just isn’t as important to you as the feeling and action that you’re replacing it with. That might change tomorrow, might change later in life, you might regret it, but the fact of the matter is that “in this moment” you don’t want to do the work that you need to do in order to reach the dream you’ve been dreaming of.
“If it’s important to you, you MAKE time”. Notice how it says, “you make time”. You won’t FIND time. It’s about making time. If spending time with your spouse or children is important to you, you make time; it doesn’t matter when/where (that’s just a preference), you focus on making time to spend with them. When we think about “finding time” that puts us in this state of mind that’s reactive. If I’m looking to “find” something, that means there’s a scarcity, that means I don’t have enough time to work with, so I have to find some to spend it the way I want to. When I say, “I’m going to make time”, that puts the power in my hands. That means, I know how much time I have, that means I am in control of my time, that means I’m a creator that can make time for the important things in my life.
With a lot of variables in my life I was skipping more and more workout days. Do that for long enough and the once fit, physically confident person you once were, is now a thing of the past. Your body composition has adapted to you sitting 80% of your day and not moving as much. So, next step for me was to “make time” to workout consistently. It was easy for me to “find” time one or two days a week and get a little sweat in, but can you “make” time to work-out consistently? That’s the only true way to get results, to do it consistently; so that means you have to “make time” for it.
Sometimes our preferences get in our way. In my case, my preference is to get a workout in the morning because it feels good to be finished with a workout and go about my day when everyone is just waking up. It comes from one of my first major clients when I started training as a young 20-year old boy who was trying to conquer himself & his world. She would workout 5-6 days per week with me at 05:00 in the morning. I always found it amazing. So, I would wake up at 04:00, have to leave my house no later than 04:25 for the commute. I recall her telling me, “You either do what they can’t do or you do what they won’t do”. They won’t wake up at 04:00 every day to get to work or workout. Most people can, but they won’t.
I loved how confident I go about my day when I get an early morning workout, how long my day becomes, how much clearer my thoughts are, how much more confident I am throughout my day, because not only did I “win” my first fight of actually waking up, I “won” the workout. So, by the time I’m drenched in sweat, breathing heavy, stretching at the end of my workout, people are hitting their last snooze on their alarms; in my head there’s no way you’re competing with me today at whatever task we’re going into. I’m already on a winning streak. I love that feeling. That feeling drives me.
However, reality check, new life season I am in now, the main issue is that I’ve been going to bed at 00:30-01:00 every night. Maybe 23:30 on a good day. I fail many days to wake up early enough to workout at 05:00 and get into work by 07:00. I would “find” myself making my 05:00 workouts once in a while. We all know, that will not cut it. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, in order to accomplish it, you must do it consistently.
“Tomorrow, I’ll wake up and do it. Or you know what? I’ll just do it tonight after work instead.” Tonight comes, you know what happens, it was “a long day at work, I just want to relax.” “I’m hungry”, “I much rather start my day with my workout, I’ll wait till tomorrow am”. All of these excuses came out at night only to repeat the same pattern tomorrow. I was failing to get “my preference”, so I never “found” time to work out.
I was reading a book one evening and I was reminded “if it’s important, you make time”; then it shifted. I had to adjust for this season. So, I began working out at night, 22:00 instead. Had to retrain my mind, it doesn’t really matter when I worked out, it only mattered that I worked out! What matters most is that you’re doing what’s important to you, not when you’re doing it. That’s on every level, whether it’s everyday things like working out, or your dreams and goals. I prefer & recommend you get to them sooner rather than later, but ultimately the end-goal is that you do them.
I had given myself this rule that I can’t work out in the evening, for whatever un-logical reasoning. Subconsciously I would say, “If I don’t work out in the am before everyone is up, I can’t work out during the day or at night”. Or “If I can’t workout at my preferred time, I’m not working out.”
Whether you’re conscious of them or not, you give yourself rules. Rules on what to do, how to act, what to accept, what not to accept, how to respond. Often times, we never even question these rules, these beliefs that are effecting our lives. Worst, most times we don’t even know the rules we’ve placed on ourselves, yet we’re abiding by them. What rules have you given yourself? Are you aware of those rules?
Some rules we give ourselves are great, others are not necessarily true or accurate. Some of these rules may even be what’s preventing you from growing and become who you want to be. You have to stop sometimes and analyze, adjust your rules, both the ones you’re conscious of and step back further to see the ones you aren’t conscious of. Maybe some of these rules served you in previous chapters of your life, but now are hindering your life. You have to be able to refine your rules, redefine them, different seasons may call for different rules. Some rules are timeless, the most important ones truly are, other rules you can use and apply them when they serve your greatest good.
Once you redefine your rules, let them serve you, your purpose and place them in a system to drive you where you want to go. Decide what’s important to you, prioritize your values. Determine their hierarchies so when the time comes to make a decision, no need to think too much, you know what’s important and “if it’s important, you make time”. If it’s important, it’s scheduled, not just desired. You find a way to make time for what’s important to you. What you’re spending your time on today, is that important to you? If not, then I think you and both know what you should be doing.
Commentaires