#043: The Real Issue With Time

When I think about this podcast and what it stands for – “to live life with purpose” – the meaning is something that I have to define to myself.

What does it mean to live life with purpose?

Does it mean that you need to get a lot of things done to live life with purpose?

I believe that is part of it, but that is only the “how” part of the equation. The how is what leads you to the why. the why of the equation is people. We are to get things done in order to impart ourselves into the lives of other people. Everyone thinks that they can and should stop with the “how”, but if we do this we miss the entire point of living our lives well.

I believe this one statement requires all of us to not only look at how we are using our time, but how we view time and time management altogether.

Today, this idea challenges me with this thought –

It isn’t about the amount of time you have, but what you do with it that counts. When we steward our time well, we live our lives well.

We are taught from adolescence that time is the most important thing we own, but it is because time is what we give other people that makes it so important. Let us never forget the “why”. Time is only important because all people are important, not just you.

This idea brings me to my next thought, which you may disagree with, but I’m okay with that.

If there is ever a choice between being somewhere on time or creating memories with people in the moment, the need to take advantage of making memories in that moment is the better choice.

Now, hold on and hear me out. I still respect you and I still believe in respecting your time, but realize I not only value you, but everyone else in this world, too. Yes, I talk a lot about time management and focus, but I can sometimes get lost in the “how” of things as well. The “why” should always be the reason behind the reason in everything we do. If the reason of “why” to live life always comes back to people, I would rather be known for loving than for being on time.

Are both possible to coexist? Sure. But, the main downfall of using time management with the preexisting idea that you are doing it well with a full schedule is the fact that it forces you to always live in the future and never allows you to relax and just be present with the people around you. Where do you need to be next? Where do you need to be tomorrow? Where do you need to be next week? A full schedule forces us all to live in the future, and again, most people would accept that as the norm and be totally fine with living this way. When we take the time to slow down and take advantage of the current moments,we are in. it is only then that we can take the time to make an impact.

I used to think that every single thing had to be scheduled in during every day, but the more that I live my life, the more I realize that I can miss out on opportunities when every single part of my day is scheduled out. My idea of time management is changing. When I talk about creating margin in your life, there shouldn’t be anything taking up this space. Leave time in your day to just love on people, because that my friend, is way more than enough.