Time Changed, Did You?

It all happened this past weekend.? You know, when we lost an hour of sleep.? Some call it Spring Forward and others call it Daylight Savings TIME.? Regardless of what you call it, if you are in the states that recognize it, the clocks advance one hour forward, and we now have more light in the evening and less in the morning.? It happened at 2:00 am.? You don’t have to like it.? You don’t have to agree with it.? You do have to abide by it until the first Sunday in November.? I do like the idea of changing with the TIMEs, however not as much as losing an hour of sleep.? Do you like change?? Do you like the TIME change?? Let’s look at four things we can do to change with the TIME:

T-Tally???????????????????????????????

Tally your efforts.? We all get the same average of 86,400 seconds in a day.? Every day we experience morning, afternoon, evening, and night.? What varies is how we use the seconds in a day to pursue or tally towards our goals.? Simply stated, to tally is to keep score, count, or the total number of something.? Are you keeping score or counting the amount of TIME you are putting towards or spending on your goals or dreams?? At the end of your day do you have any TIME tallied towards your goals?? You might have different goals in your personal or professional life; however you have to allocate TIME to them to achieve them.? Do you have TIME allocated?? If you are afraid to answer, you probably already know the answer.? Are you afraid of change, or afraid of allocating or tallying the TIME to achieve your goals?? Just like you have a ledger or checkbook that tells you what you are spending on certain costs in your life, your calendar or TIME allocation shows you where you are investing your TIME in.? If you aren’t investing your TIME towards your dreams or goals, do you really want to achieve them?? Over the next few days or the next week, track how much time you are putting into thinking, preparing, or working specifically on your goal(s). When the week ends, tally up your totals and see if you need to spend more TIME focusing on them.? No TIME to waste, start tallying today.

I-Identify??????????????????????????

Identify areas to improve.? If you are spending or allocating TIME to your projects or goals, are you getting the results you are looking for?? What areas do you need to spend more focused TIME on, or to improve in?? What area(s) do you need to spend more focused TIME or spend more effort on?? Once you identify the area(s) you need to spend more TIME and effort on, how are you going to improve in that area?? Sure, you can call up Uncle Google or watch some videos, however is that going to get you to the next level?? Are you going to be able to maximize the TIME you are spending on it?? Remember, you get about the same amount of TIME every day.? What are you doing to prioritize the TIME that you have?? What are some weaknesses that you might have that you need to learn more about or spend more TIME researching?? Who can you reach out to in order to spend some TIME with them?? Watching them?? Listening to them?? Asking them questions?? Write down three people that you can reach out to for insight or to learn from.? If you don’t have three, start with one.?

M-Make?????????????????????????

Make a plan.? You would be surprised how many people don’t have a plan and get frustrated with their results. You don’t have to write down a thesis, just write down a plan on how much TIME you plan to spend on your goal or area you need to change.? We all have busy schedules; however, can you block out TIME on your calendar to spend on it?? Can you get up earlier while the rest of your family is sleeping, or stay up later?? Can you block TIME off on the weekends while they are busy doing other things?? If it is just you, what is stopping you from being more intentional with your TIME?? Can you use your phone to set a reoccurring reminder to focus on it more?? If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.? Start by finding 10-15 minutes each day. At the end of the week, you have spent more than an hour on it.? Then see where you can add more TIME or another TIME/day where you can work on it.? Remember, just because you are working on it doesn't mean you will be perfect.? Change is not easy.? It takes TIME. Don’t lose sight of that.?

E-Execute??????????????????????

Execute your plan.? I know we just talked about your plan and blocking off TIME on your calendar and setting reminders on your phone.? That sounds pretty easy doesn’t it?? That is until your friends call you on Friday to go do something on Saturday when you had TIME blocked off to work on your goal/dreams.? Or when you have to work late or go on call, ?and have to go to work and your alarm goes off reminding you to focus or spend more TIME on getting better.? Don’t expect your plans to be perfect, however you can still execute on them.? You just have to be flexible.? If you have your calendar blocked off on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you might have to block off your calendar on a Thursday or a Saturday if your week does not go as planned.? You can still be productive, and if you are spending more time executing on your plan now, you will be closer to your finish line or goal quicker than you think.? If your one individual is unable to meet with you, ask them if they have anyone they know that might be able to share some insight or provide some guidance to you. ?You have your plan, are you executing on it?? I know this is the paragraph after the “Make a Plan” paragraph, but you will need to understand it NEVER goes as planned. Hopefully that will make you feel better.? Make sure that part of your plan is being flexible and also not being too tough on yourself if it does not go as planned.? ?Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan ‘til they get punched in the face.”? What are you going to do when you get punched in the face?? TIME will tell.

If you don’t like the TIME change, you can always move to Arizona.? If that is not an option, you are going to have to deal with or adjust to Daylight Savings TIME.? You could also stay where you are regarding your dreams and goals. Stagnation is the enemy of progress.? Allocate TIME and don’t just sit on the couch and hope it will get better and that you will achieve your goals.? You have to tally your efforts to be able to determine if you are allocating enough TIME or if you need to allocate more.? Identify your areas to improve and look for ways to maximize your efforts to improve in those areas.? Make a plan and adjust the amount of TIME that you are spending as necessary.? Execute on your plan and understand that you have to learn to be flexible.? You can do it.? You just need to spend focused TIME on what is important to you and in the areas you need to improve in.? John F. Kennedy has a quote.? He said, “We must use TIME as a tool, not as a couch.”? Don’t binge on the sofa sitting with your TIME, use TIME as a tool to create the future you want.? It is about TIME, not get going!!

T - Tally your efforts.

I – Identify areas to improve.

M – Make a plan.

E – Execute your plan.

Stay safe and stay well!