Can you manage time?

About 3 years ago I was sitting in a class titled Creative Self-Care. As I was enjoying the perspectives and information that the Instructor was sharing, she asked us the question, “What are three thoughts you have about time?”

As my classmates relayed their thoughts about time, it caused me to reflect on my own answers, four years ago, would have been something more like this.

1. There is never enough time.
2. My children and family take up all my time.
3. Why can’t I get things done!

Here are my three answers as I am today:

1. There is plenty of time.
2. I can choose how to spend my time.
3. We all have the same amount of time in a day.

What changed for me? Was life all of a sudden easier? Did I have the latest and greatest App to keep me on track? Was there not as much on my to-do list?

For me, acquiring the awareness of my own ways of thinking was the beginning in helping me create more of what I wanted in my life. The way that I spent time not only became more productive but more importantly, more enjoyable. It’s not about managing your time; the truth is it’s about managing your mind.

The first thing that I would like to make you aware of is time is the same for everyone. Time has been broken down into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Maybe it was so we can be more productive, have schedules, or be more organized. Maybe it was to ease the minds of people who need to know what time it is every minute of every day. Whatever the reason, how you choose to explain your personal use of time depends entirely upon you.

I love the saying “Don’t compare your worst day to someone’s best day, you’ll lose every time.”

I think one of the first things we can stop doing is comparing. Compare your days and years to you. Your timeline is all you need to look at. Glancing at someone else’s will not make yours improve.

The truth is that every day I am trying to live up to the potential that I know I am capable of. Some days are rock solid, while other days I need to step back, view what happened, and decide how I can improve my time for the next day.

What I do know, is that I am trying new things, viewing life from different perspectives, and learning to live in the moment, so I don’t catch myself waiting for something outside of me to change. Instead I change the way I look at thing, and the thing I look at changes.