How Can I Find Time To Do Things?

Author: Teo Gogu

The complexity of time is something that we humans have chosen to organise and measure the precious moments of our lives. We are the only creatures on this planet that have an appointment at two, who have to catch a train in fifteen minutes, who just missed the finish line by half a second. This allows us the ability to better organise and manage the time that is given to us, but yet no matter what we do, we all have twenty-four hours per day. No matter what we do, time continues and a second ago is now a moment from your life you will never get back. The question that arises from such an ear-piercing statement is: How can we find the time to do things that we want during the day when it seems like the seconds are passing by and we have no wiggle room to do anything except the basic necessities (school, work, etc)?

People say that time is an illusion, and even though that is true, we do know that time passes by and we have chosen a specific way of measuring how fast it does. Some say that time is what entraps us in this prison, but personally I think that time is a gift bestowed to us. If time is used as an asset, it can be our ally that helps us to better organise our day so that we can be more efficient. Time is not something you can “save up” by depositing it somewhere as it is always flowing, but you can choose where and how you want to invest it. Having established that, the better we can prioritise the tasks or activities we can complete within each twenty-four hour period, the easier it is to find time to do things we want that are not out of necessity. I personally believe that the key to all this is as mentioned beforehand: Prioritising tasks and activities. We all have twenty-four hours where sleep should get a certain amount depending on age, genetics, etc. One of the biggest lies you can tell yourself is that I don’t have the time for that. People make their own time, you choose how you are going to spend it. It is our choice whether we will stay on the phone after a long day of working or whether we will relax by reading a book or taking a walk outside. Saying ‘I don’t have the time for this’ is an excuse we like to give ourselves to justify our lack of effort or commitment towards that activity, project, task or challenge. I know I have done that many times, but the moment you establish that you are the master of your time, you will be able to make changes that you really want or need in your daily schedule.

The most important things are set by you, whether you’re a student or have a job or have any other major occupation. What we can tweak and should really focus on, is the time that we have at our disposal when we are not doing these activities. Nowadays, it is easy to get distracted by your phone and spend more time than you would like to or you find necessary. It is something I have struggled with. Fortunately, most phones and social platforms are implementing features where you can limit the time that you spend on them, or they can notify you whenever you have met the ‘quota’ of time that you want to spend on the app or phone. It all comes down to choices, we know what we want to do and what we need to do. For some, it might be a sport, a musical instrument, reading or writing time, time which we are wasting during the day, no matter how little, that we could be spending doing something we want. As Steve Jobs said on his Stanford Speech in 2005: “I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

The context in which he meant what he was saying is bigger, but this quote perfectly sums up a simple thinking process that you can use when planning your day or choosing, on the spot, what you're going to do. Life should be enjoyed, but if you feel that you are not able to find a single moment to do so, go back to your list of priorities and ask yourself this for each priority: “If today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” When one of your priorities seems not to hold up to this statement you have a choice to make as to how those hours or minutes of your life are going to be spent. It could be to finally spend time with the family, watch a movie or TV Show you’ve been wanting to watch for a long time, go out with friends, read that book that has been sitting on the shelf for too long, pick up on those piano lessons you’ve wanted to take. You decide what is important to you and you decide when you are going to allow yourself time to do it.

Cheers!

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References:

alwaysbright777. “Steve Jobs Talking about Death - Stanford Speech 2005.” YouTube, YouTube, 20 June 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoUfvIb-9U4.