Your time problem isn’t what you think it is

When you think about your summer plans, are you genuinely excited to spend time with family and friends, resting and recharging, pursuing hobbies you love?

Or are you stressed out about trying to take time away from the office? Wondering if you can squeeze in some work before Saturday graduation parties? Resigning yourself to bringing your extra monitor on vacation?

If the latter resonates with you, you may think you have a time problem – but the truth is, you probably have an agency problem.

Take Adam Cmejla, who was so busy trying to keep up with the demands of running his practice that he didn’t have time to grow his revenue (when he did, it didn’t grow his income). On top of struggling to grow, he was constantly frustrated that he was failing his family in the process.

Adam was doing too much, for too little, for too many, for too long. In failing to make a conscious choice about who he would spend his time working with, what the value of that time was, and what services he would exchange for that value, Adam found himself in the role of being a passive captor to time instead of a powerful creator.?

When we begin to comprehend the full value of what we create with our time, we can make drastic, life- and practice-changing transformations.?

By shifting his relationship with time from fear- and habit-based to conscious and confident, Adam built hyper-efficient business systems that allowed him to focus his time and energy creating revenue-producing activities. He grew 3x in 3 years while still having time to get his pilot’s license and work a 30-hour week while maintaining his 40% growth rate.

So how do you begin taking agency over your time? It starts with understanding the difference between accessible and available.

Available literally means, ‘at someone’s disposal’ which is what most professionals are most of the time. Accessible, by contrast, means ‘able to be reached.’?

In action, available means that you come in with your day planned, but by 10:00 AM it’s derailed by disruptions and distractions. Available means checking for new email messages 11 times a day. Available means you and your team are in a constant state of preparing for, holding, and following up on meetings, never quite able to clear the task-list tsunami. Available means you can’t take more than a few days off without being in close communication.?

Available means you just keep doing more work and the piles keep getting higher. The problem with available is that you’re never the one in charge of your time; everyone else is.?

Being accessible, by contrast, means able to be reached, which is not the same as available at will.?

Accessible says “I’m here to serve you, but on terms that work for me and all the stakeholders on my side of the street.” Accessible says that your team, your personal life, and your sanity all have a seat at the decision-making table, instead of your time being governed by impulsive, habit-driven decision-making.?

Being accessible means that you are available on the terms that respect your interests without capitulating to everyone else’s. When you make the shift from treating your time as accessible instead of available, you’ll find that a lot of space opens up on your calendar.

In this article for Kitces.com , I go into greater detail about the power of agency and the difference between availability and accessibility, and offer a simple three-step model for achieving high-performance happiness by taking agency over your time in ways that elevate your work, wealth and wellbeing – including enjoying guilt- and anxiety-free time off this summer.

To the value of your time!