But this “chronological makeover” might require more than a good memory. Did Mom and Dad’s actions match their words? Or did “What I say” and “What I do” contradict one another? It’s quite helpful to explore this, for one very compelling reason:  Mixed messages speak loudest.

Let’s say that a family member told you one thing about time and then did something completely different. How did you feel then, and how do you feel now about it now? Conflicting messages that confused you as a child can easily lead to “disconnects” in later life.

And those disconnects may create painful, missed opportunities. Fortunately, you can untangle these time knots and realign your energies. Even better, you can take an important step forward today!

Try an exercise about double messages with double benefits:

1. Think of an instance where you struggle to match your time choices with your expressed values.
2. Now, think back to your childhood, when someone you looked up said one thing about time and did something that differed.
3. Quickly write down what was said and what was done.
4. How did you feel about this? Write that down, too.
5. Compare and contrast your current conflict with what you witnessed others doing when you were young.
6. What’s similar? What’s different? What patterns emerge? Patterns always tell tales.
7. Now that you’re listening to the actions beneath the words, consult your heart. How might stories from your parents’ lives carry clues about your current situation? What past incidents narrow your sense of possibilities?
8. Envision a path to more rewarding time choices! Make this as vivid as possible, so you can really experience your progress on this path. This visualization helps motivate you and alerts you to opportunities to move forward.
9. Finally, ask your intuition about how to proactively walk this path and align deeds with words.

Engaging in this exercise will enrich you in at least 2 ways.

• First, you gain a compassionate context for time choices you make that puzzle and frustrate you. That feels SO much better!
• Second, you are in a much better position to change a troubling time choice once you understand its roots.

I would love to hear about your personal journey of finding time to live in power and harmony

And as you continue your journey, transforming yourself and your relationship with time, consider this:  Are you an entrepreneur, consultant, or small business owner who’s ready to take the next big step?  If you want to learn how to create and to keep a successful business running on your own, then this is for you! “How to Create Credibility as a Freelancer” is a booklet with 70 expert-proven tips that will help you recharge your energy and motivation, increase your visibility, and sharpen those vital organizational and time management skills.

Success is within your reach, so don’t wait, click this link and get started today!  http://bit.ly/FreelanceTips

Related articles

• Find Time to Know the State of YOUR Union: Are Your Head and Heart in Sync for Success? (thetimefinder.com)
• Find Time to Explore Your “Time Roots” (thetimefinder.com)
• Find Time to Free Yourself from the Perfectionism Trap-Your Heart Holds the Keys! (thetimefinder.com)

Here’s a sampling of our top posts from the past month, based on YOUR votes (visits)!

Finding Time for Google Plus – Timely Resources This Cyber Monday came in at #1 – just as it seems to be doing on the web!  Have you tried it yet?  What do you think of it?

With the power of Google behind it, it’s hard to see how anyone wanting to boost his or her presence on the web could NOT jump on the Google Plus bandwagon.  While there remain controversies about how Google Plus is embedded in Google search results, it seems clear that this is a social-networking tool that is going to stick around (unlike some earlier attempts by Google).

Self Care was the topic for our second-most-read post:  Find Time to Give Yourself Exactly What You Need Every Single Day!

How often do you feel like you’re running against a stopwatch and depleting yourself in the process?

Don’t you sometimes wish that someone would come along and give you whatever it is that you need in that moment?

Well, the good news is, that “someone” is YOU!

Find Time to Nourish Your Courage with Love: Today’s Timely Tip was your third favorite post, followed closely by some other courage posts:

• Find Time to Build Your Brave Muscles With a Daily Courage Workout
• Find Time to Cultivate Courage-Today’s Timely Tip
• Find Time and Courage to Move Ahead by Letting Go: 3 Timely Tips

Here’s one timely passage from that last post – about moving ahead by letting go.  A thought for today:

Finding time is all about saying No to one thing to say Yes to another, as I often say.  The No that you say to one thing is what actually makes your Yes to something else possible, and meaningful.  It’s all about how you make your time choices.

So, let’s pause for a moment.  How do you feel about your time choices so far today?  Don’t come from a critical place or you’ll clam up.  Just let yourself feel.

Are there choices you’d like to change?  Most of us are going to say yes to that … but before you start thinking about how you want to change those choices, let’s pause again.

Ask yourself, what is it that, for YOU, leads you to want to change how you use your time?

Want to learn more about how you can expand and deepen your time and efforts … in whatever areas you choose? Here’s a great way to explore avenues to increasing your time skills and heart-based power – whether it’s in your business, or your personal life.  I am so pleased to be able to offer my expertise and support as The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to “Time Management”.

You can visit by clicking the link, and when you do you’ll find lots of time management articles by experts in the field, along with a vibrant and welcoming on-line community. Stop by my Expert Page and leave a comment or question … or just say hello.  There are lots of ways to connect … I’d love to get started!

Related articles

• Find Time to Look Back and Savor October and Our Top 5 Time Finder Favorites (thetimefinder.com)
• Find Time to Appreciate November’s Time Finder Favorites as We Welcome December! (thetimefinder.com)
• Find Time to Find What You Need on the Web with RTBot This Cyber Monday (thetimefinder.com)

How do you know what is shaping what you see when you search these days?

• Is it your previous searches?
• Your Facebook likes?
• Your Amazon purchases?

That’s why I was interested to learn about RTBot, a new information service whose stated goal is to “simplify the access to information and content stored in different sites, reducing the time it takes to find relevant and fresh information on the internet.”

The way it works is you enter a search term in the search field and RTBot returns search results in a number of different venues and formats.  For example, a search for Mari Smith comes up with quite a few videos on the first tab.  Each tab reflects a different category of result – a helpful and time-saving innovation right there!

Here’s how they describe what they do:

Access the freshest information and multimedia content about almost any subject, person, place or event in one single place.

• Complete research tasks quickly and easily.
• Get a multi-perspective vision and real-time context for every topic.
• Eliminate the need to visit different online resources separately.
• Obtain new information each day – even if you are looking at the same article.
• Visualize multimedia and social-media content related to every topic.
• Embrace a didactic, intuitive, holistic approach to learning.
• Discover new, relevant content about your favorite topics and interests.
• RTBot offers a fun and engaging learning experience.
• Topics research is moving from being “stateless” to being very much in the here and now.

And, of course, one interesting way to test out their search engine is to search for yourself and see how RTBot sees you!

Here is a video that will give you a quick glimpse of how the site works.

I don’t know that RTBot is more accurate or comprehensive than other search options, but the way it is organized, and its speed, make it an interesting alternative … it certainly doesn’t hurt to explore the possibilities that RTBot offers.

And while you’re in learning mode … are you interested in learning more about the Heart-Based Time Management™ Path?  Here’s one way that you can transform and deepen your relationship to time in the Heart-Based Way … I invite you to explore Secrets of Heart-Based Time Management™ – my chapter in the book I co-authored - Stepping Stones to Success!  In it I share my proven system for exploring and harnessing the power of your mind, your body and your spirit to help you deepen your experience of time and of your life.

As you work with the ideas I offer, you’ll explore your patterns, clarify your values, identify and prioritize your goals … and create your path for achieving them.  You can give yourself the gift of this wonderful resource today, and get started on your journey toward success, Stepping Stone by Stepping Stone …just click this link to get the details!

Let’s explore time together …

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have no material connection with RTBot and have not received any compensation for writing this content.

Related articles

• RTBot: a New Tool to Search the Internet (michaelhartzell.com)
• Social Search Trends: Google Search Plus Your World and Local Marketing (reachlocal.com)
• Finding Time for Google Plus – Timely Resources This Cyber Monday (thetimefinder.com)

Ready to step toward greater time success?  Then try this brief Time Travel Exercise.  It will help you uncover what I like to think of as your Family Legacy of Time – what you learned about time from an early age.

The following fill-in-the-blank exercise can generate surprising insights. Don’t be judgmental or self-critical as you approach these questions.  The more you can explore your history with a relaxed and open mind, the more information you’ll make available to yourself.

You can also broaden the exercise to include other family members  who influenced your early development around time.  Adapt this exercise to suit your needs and experiences – don’t limit yourself!

1. My mother/father always wanted to __________ but never took the time.
2. I felt valued when my mother/father spent time __________.
3. When I was younger, I promised myself I’d never spend time __________ the way my mother/father did.
4. My mother/father spent lots of time _________ no matter what.
5. I liked the way my mother/father always took time to _______.
6. My mother/father spent more time __________ when stressed.
7. When I look at where my life feels out of balance and think of my mother/father’s time choices, I see that ____________.

Now step back and think about your responses.  What does completing this exercise reveal to you?  What surprises you?  Which of your family’s time choices have you adopted as your own?  How do you use them in your life today?  Are there things that you’d like to change?

Some of your discoveries might feel bittersweet. But remember, even as you see the losses, they ultimately lead to greater freedom!  Remember that the more compassion you feel as you view your family’s time choices (and yours), the more possibilities open up to you.

Consider revisiting this exercise over time. See what percolates today, tomorrow … and why not ask your dreams for their input, too!  As you allow your feelings to guide you, new paths will reveal themselves.  Who knows what uplifting ways you’ll find to use time!

Want to learn more about how you can expand and deepen your time and efforts … in whatever areas you choose? Here’s a great way to explore avenues to increasing your time skills and heart-based power – whether it’s in your business, or your personal life.  I am so pleased to be able to offer my expertise and support as The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to “Time Management”.

You can visit by clicking the link, and when you do you’ll find lots of time management articles by experts in the field, along with a vibrant and welcoming on-line community. Stop by my Expert Page and leave a comment or question … or just say hello.  There are lots of ways to connect … I’d love to get started!

Related articles

• Find Time to Build Your Brave Muscles With a Daily Courage Workout (thetimefinder.com)
• Find Time to Celebrate Clarity and Realism this Holiday Season (thetimefinder.com)
• Finding Time by Growing Your Courage Incrementally: Today’s Timely Tip! (thetimefinder.com)

This is so important, because we live and breathe and do everything that we do in the context of time.  So your feelings and ideas about time affect every moment and every task that you undertake in your life.

But those feelings and beliefs are so embedded – so much a part of us – that they can be very difficult to see.

“It would hardly be fish who discovered the existence of water.” Clyde Kluckhorn.

Stepping back and finding more time by expanding your sense of possibilities is a gift you can give yourself  TODAY – and it is very liberating.  Here’s a great start: take a close look at what is most familiar – your family of origin. You can gather profound insights by traveling back and exploring your roots – and specifically, your Time Roots.

How often have you felt trapped in a rut?  Do the ruts, or the feelings you get (and the messages you give yourself) have a familiar ring?

And then reflect on how often you have later learned a far more rewarding way to accomplish a task?  Well, such potentials to set yourself free are just waiting for you …

Your family’s time choices shape you from your first breath. Like fish swimming through water, oblivious to its presence, we often remain unaware of just how needlessly we hem ourselves in. The time legacy you learn as a child still moves through you like an invisible force – until you turn the spotlight on it!

So, I encourage you to explore your time roots … and watch the possibilities blossom!  Tomorrow I’ll be back with some specific questions you can ask yourself as you continue this Heart-Based Journey.

And as you continue your journey, transforming yourself and your relationship with time, consider this:  Are you an entrepreneur, consultant, or small business owner who’s ready to take the next big step?  If you want to learn how to create and to keep a successful business running on your own, then this is for you! “How to Create Credibility as a Freelancer” is a booklet with 70 expert-proven tips that will help you recharge your energy and motivation, increase your visibility, and sharpen those vital organizational and time management skills.

Success is within your reach, so don’t wait, click this link and get started today!  http://bit.ly/FreelanceTips

Related articles

• Find Time to Nourish Your Courage with Love: Today’s Timely Tip (thetimefinder.com)
• Find Time to Give Yourself Exactly What You Need Every Single Day! (thetimefinder.com)
• Find Time and Courage to Move Ahead by Letting Go: 3 Timely Tips (solo-e.com)

Founded in 2006 by Alan Levy and co-founder Bob Charish, BlogTalkRadio was, according to Wikipedia, originally intended to provide another venue for bloggers to connect with their readers.  Since its inception, BlogTalkRadio has grown into, well, here’s how they describe themselves on their website:

BlogTalkRadio allows anyone, anywhere the ability to host a live talk radio show online, simply by using a telephone and a computer. BlogTalkRadio’s unique platform, powered by Cinchcast, empowers citizen broadcasters to create and share their original content, their voices and their opinions in a worldwide public forum.

Today, BlogTalkRadio is the largest and fastest growing online talk radio network. A truly democratized medium, BlogTalkRadio has tens of thousands of hosts and millions of listeners tuning in and joining the conversation each month. Many businesses also utilize the platform as a tool to extend their brands and better communicate with the people that are most important to their business.

BlogTalkRadio offers lots of information for new users (screencast tutorials), and has both free (for shows up to 30-minutes) and paid plans.  No special software is required, and you can, quite literally, be up and running within minutes.  BlogTalkRadio is also the home of cinchcast – another powerful venue for sharing audio content.

Today I’m excited to share that I’m going to be interviewed by Sharon Ball on her show, “Reinventing Yourself with Sharon Ball” on BlogTalkRadio tonight!  If you’d like to join us, here’s the information you’ll need:

Date/Time: Monday, January 30 at 6:30 PM ET

What You’ll Hear: I’ll be talking about “Boundaries for Boomers: Proven Heart-Based Boundary Tips to Start You Living the Life of Your Dreams”

How will you find us?  You can listen to the show by clicking this link … or you can dial in at (858) 777-5903.  The radio program is free; however, if you call in, long distance charges will apply.

I hope you’ll join us as we discuss this very timely topic!  It’s one of my favorites – and a fundamental key to fashioning the kind of life you want to live.

So, are you considering using more audio?  I encourage you to explore the possibilities that BlogTalkRadio offers.

And are you interested in learning more about the Heart-Based Time Management™ Path?  Here’s one way that you can transform and deepen your relationship to time in the Heart-Based Way … I invite you to explore Secrets of Heart-Based Time Management™ – my chapter in the book I co-authored - Stepping Stones to Success!  In it I share my proven system for exploring and harnessing the power of your mind, your body and your spirit to help you deepen your experience of time and of your life.

As you work with the ideas I offer, you’ll explore your patterns, clarify your values, identify and prioritize your goals … and create your path for achieving them.  You can give yourself the gift of this wonderful resource today, and get started on your journey toward success, Stepping Stone by Stepping Stone …just click this link to get the details!

Let’s explore time together …

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have no material connection with BlogTalkRadio and have not received any compensation for writing this content.

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• Find Time to Spread the Word-Ready to Try Podcasting? (thetimefinder.com)
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