Find Time by Knowing What to Give Up

The Time Finder with Paula Eder

The way you use your time is the way you live your life.

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Posted on July 10, 2009, under Time Choices.

Finding time requires making choices … all the time! This is because, like it or not, our time is limited.

I love this quotation from Sidney Howard. He illustrates this point very clearly:

One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.

If you think of your time as a basket, you can see how adding one thing to a full basket will have to displace something else. There is no way around this fact.

In my recent article Time Management Tips – 5 Discoveries to Help Reduce Overbooking and Enjoy the Moment I explore the importance of the time choices we make – and the very real impact that these choices have on our appreciation, effectiveness, and enjoyment of each moment.

You probably have a basket that is full, if not overflowing right now! What that means in practical terms is that in order to add something new, you need to take something out to make space for it. This can be a very difficult choice; by making it consciously, you give yourself a great gift.

Making these choices consciously means paying attention to your daily activities and your feelings and effectiveness as you engage in each. Are there things that you continually neglect or forget? What is the impact of that? If there is little or no impact, perhaps they can be removed from your basket.

The quality of our experience of time is affected not only by what we choose to do, but also by what we choose not to do.

How full is your basket of time today? This weekend? Try reframing your time choices so that you can see the “No” you say to one thing as a “Yes” to something else.

I’d love to hear how it goes for you!

What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!

Let’s explore time together …