How was your 25th Hour?

On Sunday, November 4th, daylight savings time afforded everyone a 25th hour. Did it make a difference for you? Did you ‘get more done’ and feel a greater sense of peace when you put your head on the pillow at the end of the day?

If not, I think it is time we challenged the notion that we don’t have enough time. So often I hear people say, “If only I had an extra hour in the day, I would crush it!” But, the reality is, we would likely spend it doing many of the same energy-draining tasks that we’re currently engaged in.

Time is fixed, and we have enough. We don’t need an extra hour, we simply need to get more selective with the 24 we’ve been given. This way, we can shift our attention and energy to the tasks that bring us greater results, fulfillment and joy.

Here are three things you can do right now to begin to make those choices:

1.     Take an honest inventory across a 24-hr day. How, where and with whom are you currently spending your time? Surprisingly, even the most effective leaders often have no clue where their time is being spent.

2.     Rank those activities on a scale of 1-10. Rate them according to how important they are to you right now (are they consistent with your values, linked to your goals, fulfilling, etc.).

3.     EDIT! Get out a red pen and begin the important process of cutting out the energy-draining, unimportant tasks that don’t deliver joy or help us move closer to our goals. Decide what you can delegate or delete completely. We can’t have it all, and we don’t want it all!  As Greg McKeown put it in his book, Essentialism, let’s strive for ‘less, but better’.

Buddha said, “The trouble is, you think you have time”. Let’s design a plan together to stop wasting it and to start living and leading more purposefully.