I have a question for you.
How many "have to do's" each day actually don’t have to be done at all? - Are You Selfish?
When you’re trying to change your life or pursue a dream, what you don’t do is often as important as what you do. We’re all given the same 24 hours each day. It’s easy to feel like there’s not enough time to do what you really want to be doing. After all the “have to do’s” there’s barely any time left for the “want to do’s.”
When you actually think about your list of things you’re planning to do today or this week, how many of them could be deleted without consequences?
Working a business is a series of on going decisions. Every decision you make has an effect on other decisions. By choosing to spend your time as you do today, you’re deciding not to spend time doing the other things you’d really like to be doing.
So, are you being selfish by not sharing time with yourself? The things you don’t do free up time for other opportunities.
To make progress toward your goals, you’re going to have to get comfortable with not doing some of the things you do today. That means you’ll have to get comfortable with letting some negative consequences happen in favor of other positive consequences. Get comfortable with “letting lots of little bad things happen.” See, most people get consumed with minimizing all negative consequences of their decisions instead of maximizing the positive ones.
Your time is your time, time is precious. You have to decide how to spend it, otherwise other people's stuff will consume most of your precious time. Learn to say "no" get a little selfish. Learn how to be more selfish.
Here are 3 things I've learned to do to regain my precious time.
1) View your calendar at the beginning of the week.
I do this on Sunday evenings. I evaluate every appointment on my calendar. For each appointment, I ask myself "can I skip this appointment and what will be the consequences if I do" Then, I ask myself “can I do something else with that time ?”
2) Create a “stop doing list.”
I talked about creating a stop doing list in a previous creative business solution tip video and I still stand strong on this one. Create a stop doing list and remove the repetitive tasks that consume your time. Some of you might not be able to quit your repetitive tasks cold turkey, but you can stop having to do a lot of things if you plan ahead.
Think about all the things you do on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Pick the ones that are not helping you make progress towards living out your creative business lifestyle. What if you just stopped doing them today? If you can’t stop doing them right now, could you create a plan to make it happen in a week or month or three months? Try it and see what happens.
3) Don’t be afraid to disappoint.
Here's a tough one and this is where you might be called selfish. When you try o please everyone around you it becomes an impossible task that will keep you from getting what YOU want to do!
Typically, I have Fridays off from teaching, and many of my family and friends ask me to run errands for them on Fridays. I say No- that's my time to get my things done. Many of my friends and family members called me spoiled and selfish. It sadden me at first- but I quickly got over it. So I say, get comfortable with letting some negative consequences happen in favor of bigger better things. A little selfishness might be just what you need to make a breakthrough.
Talk with you later,
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