We all wish we had more time. I know I do.
It always seems like the day ends before I get all my work done, especially on my day off. I rush and rush until life’s no fun.
I hate that.
But why is it that we either have too much time on our hands and very little money, or too much money and very little time? Does it really have to be like that, or is there another alternative?
Can we get some of that time back?
Is there a time machine that we can access, or is that just fiction?
Maybe there is a different kind of time machine we can access. Maybe instead of jumping into a sci-fi movie, we can actually learn some skills to help our situation change.
WHAT IS THE TIME SUCK?
Before you can change your situation, you first have to evaluate what exactly is going on. What is creating the time suck?
Is it your job?
Yes, you need to work to pay bills and put food on the table, but if you’re in the wrong job, it can eat away at you and make you regret it.
Little by little, it can feel like your job is sucking the life out of you, and ultimately your time. You start to become negative and refer to it as a time suck because you’d rather be doing something else.
In that case, do something else.
Obviously, you are in the wrong job, or maybe you need to retire. Figure out what it would take to make you feel like you are in control of your time again.
That’s the key: Control.
You can do anything in the world, but if you are not in control of your time, you will spend the rest of your life chasing your tail.
All jobs do that to some degree. They control us. Bosses control us. They keep us busy until the moment we go home. Frankly, that’s normal.
In exchange for your time, they pay you money. That’s a necessity of life.
But what am I talking about here? As I said before, all jobs suck your time away. You just have to make sure it’s a fair trade.
Are you doing what you love?
Do you feel satisfied in your job?
Are you secretly dreaming about starting your own business, or going back to school to become a doctor?
That, my friend, is the key. YOU are not satisfied, and because of that, you feel Iike your time is being stolen. You wouldn’t feel that way if you loved what you do every day.
It would be the perfect trade if you loved your job.
A time-suck can also happen because your life is not as disciplined as it should be. That’s not an insult, I’m just being real. We’ve all been there.
Do you waste time binge-watching Netflix?
Do you sleep in until noon on your days off?
Maybe you spend hours scrolling social media on your phone. That is a huge time suck. That behavior is undisciplined and will gobble up your precious time.
There are so many things that suck your time away, and it is your job to find out what that is in your life. Everyone is different, and self-evaluation is a must if you hope to ride the proverbial time machine.
Figure out where the suck is coming from, and then put a stop to it.
IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE CIRCUMSTANCE, CHANGE THE RULES
Sometimes you can’t put a stop to it because the time-suck is caused by a situation you can’t control. Take, for example, aging parents.
If this is you, you’re stuck in the sandwich generation.
Often times, women are squeezed between the obligation of taking care of children and their aging parents at the same time.
The two lifestyles collide.
Your time goes to your kids, even if they are young adults. However, your parents suddenly become sick and you fall into the caregiver role once more.
That is a major time suck if you regret it.
Some say they love it and wouldn’t trade their circumstance for anything. That may be true, but if you secretly regret it, it will come out as bitterness.
Others will notice your unhappiness hidden beneath your smile and say something.
Listen!
Even if you can’t admit it to yourself that you are unhappy and need a change, my suggestion is to take some time for yourself.
But what if you don’t think you can? What if you really can’t?
What if you can’t afford to make the changes in your life because of things you really can’t control, like debt, illness, divorce, mental illness.
There are many reasons people don’t think they can change their circumstances around. My suggestion is to change the rules.
The rules of the game are usually cut and dry. For example, if you don’t have enough money to send your teenager on a school trip to Africa, she can’t go.
Wrong!
Why not change the rules? Why not do something extraordinarily crazy and change the rules. I did that. It wasn’t a trip to Africa, but it was a trip my daughter wanted to go on.
We were dirt poor and I would NOT accept the fact that she couldn’t go just because we didn’t have the money. Instead, I changed the rules. The rules said it was impossible, but I said it was.
I created laminated picture bookmarks to sell door to door in the little town we lived in. My daughter and I went to every house in town and sold every single one of them.
We made enough for her to go on the trip, and it was an incredible lesson. If circumstances say you can’t do something, don’t accept it.
Fight! Fight hard!
If you change the rules, you will find a way to get your time back. That might mean you have to do something that seems absolutely ridiculous to others, but so what.
Do it anyway!
KNOW YOUR WHY
If you want something bad enough, you’re going to have to fight for it.
Time-sucks happen for reasons. Sometimes we don’t take the time to figure out why. Sometimes we don’t think we can change our circumstances.
Nothing will change until we figure out the why.
When faced with hard times, realize THAT is why you want out of your circumstance. Maybe your employer makes it impossible for you to take care of your children when they are sick.
Maybe your boss belittles you in front of customers every day. Maybe you go home crying every night because you’re so overworked you can’t possibly handle one more duty.
THAT is your why.
It’s important to know your why because if you don’t, you’ll never push hard enough to fight the pain of whatever you’re going through.
Which brings me back to my original statement. If you want something bad enough, you’re going to have to fight for it.
It seems sometimes, people don’t really want something bad enough so they only put in half the effort. Either it’s a fear thing, or you don’t have enough motivation to make that change.
When I was in high school, my teacher made me cry in front of the whole class because I got zero on a test. I didn’t understand grade 12 chemistry and his humiliation hurt.
I wanted to avoid that pain at all costs. Never in a million years was I going to let that happen to me again, so I forced myself to understand the formula.
This was my why.
I don’t think people should use humiliation to teach a lesson, but you get my point.
The same thing happened when I gained 50 pounds due to menopause. I was so unhappy. I couldn’t even go up a flight of stairs without being winded.
I decided to try intermittent fasting, and It ended up changing my life.
That was my why.
If you find out what your why is, you will be able to make the changes you are looking for even if it’s hard. Even if it’s the hardest thing in the world.
If you don’t know your why, you’ll never make the change.
SET UP A PLAN
Once you figure out your why and understand what the time-suck is, you will have to set up a plan of action.
If you don’t set up a plan to make the changes in your life, they will never happen. Things often get done one baby step at a time.
When I decided I wanted to lose 50 pounds and get back into shape, it wasn’t easy. I could have let myself get overwhelmed and quit, but I didn’t.
Instead, I took it one baby step at a time. I did one fast at a time. Little by little, I saw the numbers on the scale go down.
The same thing happened when I wrote my books. I only had a couple of hours in the morning before work to write. I could have given up before I started, but I didn’t.
One word at a time, one chapter at a time, I got my book done. Not just one book, but many. I had a plan and I stuck to it.
I got up early every morning and I wrote.
That’s also how I started this blog. I did it one baby step at a time.
I set up a plan and I made it happen because I knew my why. Plans don’t just happen, they are deliberate and take sacrifice.
I sacrificed my sleep for progress.
Without a plan, nothing will change. Figure out what plan will work for you and stick to it. Fight hard for the changes you want in your life and make them happen.
Usually, those changes will solve your time-suck and you won’t need that time machine to get it all back.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
The difference between setting up a plan and making it happen is the launch. Launching is a motion that gets you from one place to another.
It’s like a car.
You can plan to buy a car. You can even get in it. But unless you actually turn the key and start driving, you’ll never go anywhere.
You’ll just stay in one spot unless the wheels turn.
So, turn those wheels. Figure out a plan to get to where you want to go and then shift it into drive. Before you know it, your circumstances will change.
You’ll suddenly feel like you have all the time in the world because YOU will be in control again. What used to stop you is no longer an obstacle because you figured out your why and you set up a plan to set it in motion.
Bravo! You just got your time back without needing a time machine to do it.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I just wanted to say that life is hard. It can get us down if we let it. We can become negative and make things worse.
Instead, make different choices. Evaluate what is actually happening in your life to make you feel like you don’t have time to do anything.
Figure out where the time-suck is.
Evaluate your life in such a way that you discover what is making you unhappy, and then do something about it.
Figure out your why.
Once you do that, set a plan in motion and change your life for the better so you feel in control of your time, and happiness becomes achievable.
Once you do that, you will feel as though you actually got your time back, even if you know that’s not possible.
It’s all about perspective.
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Author Kathleen Morris
Kathleen Morris is a successful published author, blogger, and Youtuber. She enjoys writing about things she’s passionate about and making a difference in the world.