Make Time Happen: An Epiphany
Zach Messler
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Whatever you want to do with your job, your career, your life…don't wait. Start now.
Make time happen.
I had an epiphany today.
I hate doing dishes.
Well actually, it’s not the act of doing the dishes that I hate. It’s when my kids just pile stuff in the sink without rinsing it off, and then those dirty dishes just sit there until I get to them…Usually late at night.
After a whole day of dirty dishes sitting in the sink, you know what happens? Anything that was left on the dishes:
- Eggs
- Oatmeal
- Cereal
- Yogurt
- Peanut butter
- Jelly
- Cheese
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- You name it…
…is MUCH more difficult to rinse off. It takes some serious elbow grease along with remarkably hot water.
This drives me nuts.
What could be a very simple action in the moment becomes more time consuming with more effort to achieve the same exact result.
Zach…Just throw it all in the dishwasher!
Nope. Doesn’t cut it. If I just threw it all in the dishwasher, you know what happens? I get dishes that come out with baked on remnants of eggs, oatmeal, cereal, yogurt, peanut butter, jelly, cheese, ketchup, mustard…you name it!
So the last time I rinsed off the dishes I had my epiphany:
Whatever you want to do with your job, your career, your life…don't wait.
Start NOW.
Make time happen.
Don’t wait. The more time that passes, the more difficult it becomes.
Start now—even with small steps—and in no time, you’ll be down the path to what you really want.
Need more motivation? Here are some quick things you can do to get in the right mindset:
- Read this post by Bruce Kasanoff.
The core of the brilliant post, "Harness the Awesome Power of Repetition," is this: Do small, good things…every day. Repeat your effort. In time, great things will happen.
This works. You simply must be disciplined to repeatedly take action. So…with this in mind:
- Put a dedicated hour on your calendar for each day of the week—anytime you want. Focus that time exclusively on your pursuit.
Make it happen. Control time instead of having time control you.
Consider how often you've thought, “I’d love to do this, but I don’t have the time.” What if you had made the time?
Too many of the best intentions fall prey to the fixable barrier of time. So put it on your calendar. Make the time happen. And then….
- Prioritize that time on your calendar. Move it for NOTHING.
When I wanted to be healthier at the beginning of last year, perhaps the most important things I did were creating the time to do it and moving that time for NOTHING.
I put my gym time on my calendar—twice a week for an hour—and I put it first, no matter what.
Was it hard? Nope! It was a commitment. It was a focus on a goal. And it was (and is) successful. I put it first, and I was rewarded for my repeated action.
Put the time aside, and you will have the time to use. Make that time sacred, and you will use it as intended.
So what are you waiting for? Go rinse those dishes!
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Read more articles kinda like this one....right here.
Zach Messler is a marketing guy and communicator with “…an uncanny instinct for the right thing to say and how to say it.”
Want to learn how to make your sales and product messaging more clear...more compelling...more awesome?
Reach him at @zmessler or linkedin.com/in/zmessler.
He does not always type in the third person.
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Service Designer HCD | Design Researcher | Design Educator | Systems thinker
7 年Zach, I was laughing out loud, while I was reading, because the same thing drives me nuts too!! I totally loved the metaphor.
Speak Truth to Power
7 年Interestingly, I learn a lot by doing the dishes. I used to put it off. Living alone, was I waiting for The Dish Fairy to arrive? Just do the work. There are 168 hours in every week. That is equal whether you are rich or poor. If someone has time to watch reality television which is mostly commercials and previews of upcoming scenes there is time to make one change. And then another. Possibly a third.
Transforming Businesses with Data-Driven Insights & Innovative Strategies
7 年Grest article Zach Messler. Thanks for sharing.
Mindset Alchemist. Preparing Your Business to Prosper Today & Tomorrow. Meatball maker, yes really.
8 年Zach Messler, the way you take a YOOGE topic and make it profoundly simple is the mark of a master. Your use of known schemas and analogies are GIANT dot connectors. Nice stuff. "You may delay, but time will not." Benjamin Franklin ... heading to the sink ... :)