Time management, conscious personal growth, and decision-making all highlight the importance of where and how you direct your time and energy. If you direct the majority of your time in such a way that doesn’t energise you, bring you joy or fulfilment, help you to grow, or increase the quality of your life in some way, then what’s the point of it?
We all have a choice of where and how we direct our time. And, if where we direct our time is meaningless, or meaningful and an investment into our future. Now, don’t get me wrong I’m not in the camp of working 24/7 as life is more than just about work or leisure, and is a combination of both.
You could binge-watch Netflix all day, many do, even more have done, and I’m no exception. Or you could become a workaholic, many are, and neither extreme leads to a place of fulfilment and peace. We fall into the idea that there is a balance, and maybe there is. I on the other hand approach it from the perspective that it’s all life and at times work becomes the priority, at other times social and family are the focus, and in other times doing something you enjoy takes centre stage.
The important lesson to remember is whatever you choose to do to ensure that it aligns with your values, energises you, brings you joy, or fulfilment, helps you to grow, and/or advances your life in some way because while life is infinite, our lives and being human is finite.
This topic was part of my conversation with Manny Blue, as we went back and forth discussing this topic in great detail and referenced the wisdom of Gary Vaynerchuk, who describes life as being in the “purple”, between the extremes of “red” and “blue.” I love this idea, as it reminds us of yes, we can watch Netflix just not for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week or we be so passionate about our work that we want to be at the office 24/7 but actually our family is also important. This concept can be applied to whatever your extremes are and help to bring us back to a more centred place.
We are all personally responsible for where and how we direct our time. We are all responsible for if we take action on our goals or not. The challenge in society is that we’re not very good at understanding the power of personal responsibility and being conscious of the choices we make and their impact on our lives. This leads us to make more short-term decisions rather than taking control of our own lives, and making empowered decisions that help us to be better people and live better lives in the future.
It’s not all our fault as there is an innate part of us that is designed to keep us alive and when we are operating from this place, we lose sight of making long-term decisions. However, we can learn to overcome it through living consciously and being more thoughtful.
The influence of limiting beliefs and our insecurities cannot be underestimated here. Our perceived limitations have a profound effect on what actions we decide to take. By being honest with ourselves we can start to break free from our limiting beliefs.
This isn’t an easy process and many feel stuck or unsure of how to progress on this journey. One practice that has worked well for me is brain-dumping down all of the obstacles and challenges that I face, as well as everything on my mind. I then take a break and come back to it sometime later with potential solutions. By doing so, we can gain clarity and often see our challenges from new perspectives. From here we can make better conscious choices which are the catalysts for forging our own paths and creating the life we envision. Ultimately, whether you believe it or not you are in charge of where and how you direct your time and forging your own path!
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