Reframing "I Don't Have Time" – A Leadership Perspective

How often do you catch yourself saying, "I don’t have time"? It's a familiar refrain for many, but upon closer inspection, it often translates to "I don’t want to do that" or "I’m choosing to do something else." Let's face it: time cannot be manufactured or taken away; we each have 24 hours in a day. It's really about prioritization.

Digging deeper, what influences our prioritization? And how can we be more mindful about investing time in what truly matters to us? Here lies an intimate connection between our brains and time management. Through a concept called neuroplasticity, we can shape our brains by our daily actions. You have control over how you think and act if you deliberately choose your daily activities.

The famous words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. resonate here,

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”

You can reorganize your brain through changes in your behavior, thinking, emotions, and environment.

How does this pertain to time? In the absence of awareness, our time is often shaped by habits - habits like aimlessly scrolling through social media or binge-watching shows when there are more meaningful or necessary tasks at hand. Prioritizing our time often means breaking certain habits and choosing to do something different.

We don't have to do everything. Granting ourselves permission to set aside one task for something else of greater value can be liberating. "I don’t have time" transitions to, "Today, I choose to read that insightful book instead of spending an hour on social media."

Prioritization boils down to changing habits, discipline, and consistency. Through prioritization, we can rewire our brains, thereby making better use of our time and boosting our productivity.

A simple self-reflection exercise can be helpful here. Divide a piece of paper into two halves. List your time-wasting activities on the left and what you'd genuinely love to do on the right. Now tally up the time spent on the left-side activities and notice the time taken away from your right-side aspirations.

Remember, there's no room for self-criticism here. This exercise merely shows how our brains function, opting for easy, habitual tasks over new and different ones. The power of neuroplasticity comes to the rescue by allowing us to reshape our neural pathways.

Look at your list, select what's truly important on the right, limit time spent on the "time wasters" on the left, and consciously engage in right-side activities instead of defaulting to old habits. Also, decide what you won't spare any time for: drama, negativity, and anything misaligned with your values and goals.

By making these decisions, you're rewiring your brain. You're transitioning from "I don’t have time" to "I’m choosing my priorities."

Now, this is where ID360's leadership training comes in. We believe that successful leadership starts from within. Your internal foundation plays a crucial role because leading others begins with leading your own mind effectively. By understanding and managing your priorities, you're building a resilient mindset that's a powerful tool for leadership.

With our tailored training programs, we can help you and your team unearth these skills and instill these principles in your leadership approach. We'd love to chat more about how we can implement our customized training with your leaders and teams. Schedule a discovery call with us today, and let's embark on a transformative journey of leadership together!