Life is full of distractions. From phone notifications, to endless emails, news and social media they all take away our precious time, every minute, every hour. And once we've lost that time we can never get it back.
Do you ever wish you could have an extra hour in the day to read, exercise or spend it with your spouse or children? Well, you can and there is no secret to it except you need to rethink the value of time and take control of it.
That's right, we have 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds in a day. We can do a lot of things in a minute from a one minute plank, or 40 squats or pushups, or my favorite, a one minute mindfulness meditation. However, first we need to be aware about how we use our time and decide to take control back.
Now that you know you're in control over your time you’re ready to manage your distractions, and prioritize your priorities or MIT as I like to call it - Most Important Things. The single important goal that will have the biggest return on your life is prioritizing your priorities. Having a daily MIT results in greater level of happiness and improved focus and self-discipline.
Are you ready to prioritize and achieve your MIT with less stress and more energy?
Here’s a simple strategy I use in my own life with excellent results. I also use it in my teaching and coaching with great results. After all, it's not really a time issue as it is a self managing issue. We need to learn to set boundaries, eliminate distractions, and use time to achieve our life's goals.
Remove any distractions from your environment. Turn your phone off, close the door and tell everyone that you’ll not be available for the next hour or so
Write down your important goals - short term and long term
Prioritize your goals from most to least important
The most important goals become your MIT (Most Important Things for the week or the day)
Design a strategy with actionable steps for achieving your MIT
Implement the steps consistently and block the time to do it on the calendar
Share your goal and the plan with your friends and family so they’ll support you
Repeat with each goal and watch yourself transform into a less stressed and more energetic self
Here’s an example. Let’s say you want to begin working out consistently beginning tomorrow. First thing is to design a realistic workout routine today and it may look like this:
Goal - exercise three times a week for 45 minutes each time
Schedule it in the calendar - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6am
Commit to that time, which means that you need to be in bed at a certain time to get up rested and ready to move OR 6pm, or whatever time works for you. The point here is to be responsible, accountable, and consistent
Research and decide what will your workout routine look like. Will you go for a walk, run, the gym. Have a plan and your workout gear ready
Use an app to record your steps - 10K a day? 8K a day?
Journal your workout experience and celebrate every small achievment
Remember: Planning your MIT is imperative to success
And that’s how you set your most important priorities, implement a strategy with actionable steps and begin the work towards achieving your goals. There is no shortcut to becoming your best self and living a good life. It requires self-discipline, self-awareness, resilience, planning, and hard work. The best part is that anyone can do it by understanding the value of time and prioritizing what matters in life.
Need help setting up and achieving your goals? Book a free coaching call now.