Finding time to explore your “time roots” is a surefire way to get yourself untangled from old messages about time that may be holding you back.

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!

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Finding time to know and understand yourself is one of the best investments you can make.  Exploring your “Time Roots” is about coming to understand the kinds of messages and lessons you learned about time from the earliest age.

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

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Finding time to stay connected with yourself – to have your head and heart in sync, is one of the most powerful time management choices that you can make for yourself.  So, whether you are a follower of politics or not, it’s important to ask yourself about the State of the Union periodically – I mean YOUR union.

This means setting aside some time to check in with yourself periodically.  For some this might be a daily, weekly, or monthly ritual.  The more time you spend doing this (and the more often you do it) the better – but it’s important to find what works for you and to build a pattern that you can trust.

You might ask yourself something as simple as, “How are you doing today?”  Answer honestly, and strive to open up to an internal dialogue.  Let a back-and-forth evolve.  This won’t happen all at once, but as you speak and listen to yourself, you may be surprised at what you discover.

It may feel like you are getting to know a new friend.  How wonderful!

As you learn more about the State of Your Union, you will be able to adjust the ways that you work and use your time, to better fit with your true values and needs.  Keep the dialogue going as you tweak things.

You can’t predict, at the outset, where this path may lead.  But here’s one thing I can absolutely guarantee:

When your goals are in sync with your values, your head and your heart work in tandem, freeing up energy and creativity that you may not have ever known that you had!

Why, it would be like the Legislative and Executive Branches of the Government working together.  Just imagine what could be accomplished …

So, I encourage you to check in with yourself frequently about the State of Your Union.  Listen to what your head and heart have to say to each other … and watch the possibilities blossom!

And as you bring your head and heart into sync, 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

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Finding time is a perennial challenge, and finding time the heart-based way can make that process a whole lot easier for you.

How?  Well, my Heart-Based Time Management System™ focuses on bringing your head and your heart into sync … and from that base flows your own prodigious power! When you are working with your heart and head in sync, you aren’t wasting energy (and time) fighting yourself.

These 3 tips will help you get there.  They may sound like something you’ve heard before, but pay attention and try them – they really work!

1. STOP:  Check in with yourself periodically during the day.  Ask some friendly questions.  How’s it going?  How do you feel?  Is something a little bit ‘off’?  Structuring your time to include these pauses gives you a very helpful opportunity to recalibrate and refresh!
2. LOOK:  Look at what you are doing.  This is a chance to take a step back.  Pretend that you are looking at yourself from above (and without criticism or judgment).  Are there unhelpful patterns that you notice?  Is there something that seems to be blocking your way?  Are you procrastinating about something?
3. LISTEN:  Now, ask yourself how you are feeling about what you see.  Ask with compassion, as a friend would, and open your heart as the answer comes.  This revealing dialogue will help you make the changes you need to, so that your heart and mind are working together again.

When you take the time to STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN, you give yourself the time and space to find time the Heart-Based way.  I think that you will be very pleased with the results, as you build this capacity into your moment-to-moment time management repertoire!

And while we’re talking about ways to enhance your experience of time, don’t forget to check out The Gratitude Project on Friday, November 18.  It’s a full day of exercises and rituals based on Gratitude.  When you sign up to participate you will learn how to tap into heart-centered and consistent gratitude in your life … one of the key ingredients to success.  Remember – the Blog Summit will be going all week and The Gratitude Project starts at 9 AM EST on November 18th, with rituals and activities running for the first 10 minutes of every hour until 4pm EST.  I know I will be calling in, and hope you will, too!

Last but definitely not least in this special week, here’s another thing to be grateful for:  Melissa McCreery’s “Too Much on Her Plate Week!“  Melissa created this week-long holiday to help busy, high-achieving people – (sound familiar?) – take control of their lives and make lasting changes to create more success. There’s still time to access the great (FREE) gifts that she has collected for you.

All you have to do it go to http://TooMuchOnHerPlateWeek.com  and sign up. As soon as you do, you’ll be able to select which gifts you want to receive. It’s as simple as that!

Here’s one more idea for taking your next step. Sign up for our free gift, “The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Simple, Sequential Steps to Find More Time and Recharge Your Energy!”

This time template will help you move beyond overwhelm, disappointment, and frustration. Using a workbook format, with room to record your answers, you will discover that 24 hours really are enough!

Finding time to live your moments as fully as possible is what Heart-Based Time Management is all about.  My aim is to help you live expansively, actualizing your potential and tapping into your core power, creativity, and values.

As you explore your own Heart-Based path, you’ll find that your feelings about yourself change.  Not only that – this process will transform your feelings about time.  That’s because the Heart-Based way works from the inside out.  It starts with you as the base.

So, what’s a Heart-Based way to learn how you feel about time?  I can think of no better place to start than with the words you use when you describe it.

Do you talk about feeling pressed for time?  Do you have all the time in the world?  Are you running out of time?

Here’s a very informative exercise:

Take out a pen and paper and set a timer for 3 minutes.  Now, write down every word that springs to mind when you say the word “time.”  Don’t worry about logic or coherence.  Just write what comes to mind.  Feel free to repeat words.  Turn off your inner critic and just write as fast as you can.

Now, just sit with your words for a few minutes.  What jumps out at you?  Are there one or two words that offer you a good sense of the flavor of your relationship with time?  How do you feel about those words?  Would you like to change them?

This is where you have the opportunity to transform your feelings about time.

You see, those words that you use to describe time shape how you see, and how you live in your moments right now.  If they are based in scarcity or fear, for example, those feelings will leak into your sense of time.  As you can imagine, that has a very profound effect on every single moment of your life.

The wonderful and empowering Heart-Based news is that you can change that.  Those words that you use are not writ in stone.  They are yours – and that means you can come up with different ones - any ones you want!  You can transform your feelings about time by taking charge of the words you choose to use.  It’s that simple and that powerful.

I encourage you to try our simple exercise and begin exploring the transformative power of Heart-Based Time Management today.

Let’s explore time together …

And while I’m on the subject of empowerment, are you a solopreneur, 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

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Finding time to move through life from your most powerful core means being in sync with your values – that’s the Heart-Based Way.

As Deepak Chopra has said, “Without values, there is confusion and chaos.”

Indeed, without that powerful, core connection to your values, your energy will be disconnected and diffuse.  Conversely, when you are moving through your days in the Heart-Based Way, you are tapping into a wellspring of personal power that will never dry up.

But first things first.  To find your Heart-Based Way, you need to ask yourself some questions:

• How well do you know yourself?
• How does your daily life and the way you use your time reflect your values?

Your personal value system is comprised of both your internal and your external values. These values profoundly influence how you see the world and how you use your time and energy.

Your external values involve areas of your life that are of utmost importance to you, such as your work, your family and/or your health. Maybe when you were younger, you absorbed the values of your parents or other influential adults in your life.  As you develop your own Heart-Based Way in life, you tend to redefine these values and their importance to you. For example, maybe as you grow older you place more emphasis on your health and spirituality, while the importance you attach to your work might diminish.

So, external values provide a frame for what you do – and your internal values provide a context for how you do it.  Your internal values are process-oriented. This is where the Heart-Based Way comes most significantly into play.

You might value, for example, integrity, responsibility and/or authenticity as a context or frame for how you live. Again, the direct and indirect teaching of your parents helps shape your internal values.  And even more, as you age and your self-knowledge deepens, the shape and texture of your own Heart-Based Way becomes clearer and clearer to you.

Do you feel that you are living in sync with your core values?  How do you actively manifest your internal and external values in your life?

Are you interested in deepening your understanding of time and your relationship to it in the Heart-Based Way?  

Then, 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.

The in-depth interviews contained in this book provide practical and heart-based ideas to get you moving as you embrace yourself and your own uniqueness!  As one reader has said:

In fostering a climate of ever-expanding and deepening discovery, Paula’s system offers solutions that are founded in self-knowledge. They have a resonance and a wisdom that I find to be very unusual in the time management sphere.  Jordy Cornog, Canterbury, NH

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!

What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up for your FREE Finding Time Success Kit. It puts 3 key tools for your time success right into your hands! Claim it and see how you can recharge your energy, reduce overwhelm and frustration, and come to learn that 24 hours really ARE enough!

Let’s explore time together …

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