How do you spend your time everyday? Do you know it exactly?
Time is precious because life is short. But people spend it like they have infinite time in the world until they don’t.
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.”
— William Penn
Put in your birthday here: https://mainfacts.com/time-life-countdown-timer and then see how much time you actually have left.
I’m 28 and I’ve already lived 10.300 days and if I live until I’m 80 I have another 18.800 days left.
That is crazy. So what do you do in your remaining days? Sitting in a job you don’t like? Talking and spending time with people you don’t like?
Or…
Will you enjoy life and the world? Will you spend time with your loved ones? Will you try to leave the world a better place? Will you try to leave a legacy?
Here are the first steps to spend your time how you want to.
1. Analyze How You Spend Your Time
I already lived over 10.000 days. What did I do most of those days? First, I guess we all spend time sleeping. Which is a good thing because it recharges you for being able to do more the whole day.
Check out your normal day. How much time do you spend on which tasks or stuff? I know that I spend time at work, with my boyfriend and also relaxing in front of the TV.
How much time do you exactly spend on things? Let’s analyze that for a few days. You can do that by downloading some apps or browser extension, or you can just write the time in your calendar every time you are switching to a different task.
You will be stunned on how much time you spend time on Social Media, news and watching TV (if you do that). You also regularly spend time on grocery shopping, looking for discounts and cleaning your home.
How much time do you exactly spend on those tasks every week? Can you then calculate how many hours you will do that until you are 80 years old?
It’s a lot, isn’t it?
Then you are ready for the next steps.
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”
— Bruce Lee
2. Know Your Values
Spend some time alone, meditate and figure out what your values are on which you want to continue living.
What defines you? What are the most important things for you? How does your dream life look like?
Based on that values you can continue searching for a goal and then live by those values.
Some of my values for example are freedom and love. Define what does words mean to you. Freedom for me is to choose how I spend my time and I want the freedom at work so that I’m able to spend time with my loved ones.
3. Choose Your Life Goal
What do you want to achieve in your life? What is the goal you are working on?
If you don’t have a goal then what’s your motivation to stand up in the morning?
Choose goals based on your values. You can also have different goals for different parts of life. You have a goal for your professional work, you have a private goal for your family and you have a goal for yourself how long you want to live, how fit you want to be and what you want to achieve in your hobbies.
My professional goal is to work as an independent architect on projects in which I help people and where I can choose when I want to work on (based on my value of freedom).
“A goal without a plan is only a dream.”
— Brian Tracy
4. Plan and Motivate
You cannot achieve a goal without a plan.
Think backwards from your goal, and then plan ahead. Do it in microsteps so that you don’t get overwhelmed by big tasks like setting up a website. Break it down in smaller steps like finding a website name first.
A plan keeps you motivated because a goal can feel too big.
Motivate yourself by thinking about micro steps which you can do everyday. That’s how you stay consistent and motivated.
5. Change One Step At a Time
Changing and achieving a goal takes time and patience. Overnight success is not real, and it usually takes years.
The secret: consistency. Do one step at a time everyday. Work on achieving your goal everyday with small steps. You will not feel the difference, but in a year you will be different and you will be nearer to your goal.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
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