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- 15 | ⏰ "I don't have time"
15 | ⏰ "I don't have time"
Yo - this week's email is all about making time.
I make time for this email because I feel like I have a commitment to people that have subscribed (accountability). But what about the other stuff I should be doing?
Don’t forget to subscribe for more every Sunday!
"I don't have time."
I've said this countless times. It's my go to excuse when I need a bit of moral licensing.
Didn't go to the gym? Couldn't find the time.
Don't do any yoga? I don't know where I could find time in the day.
Not keeping up with reading 1 book a month? I don't have enough time to read.
The thing is - I definitely do have the time.
On Saturdays I get up at 07:30am to play football. I'm definitely not a morning person, so this is a big deal.
Obviously, for a lot of people, waking up early is the norm. For me, not so much.
So, waking up at 07:30am on Saturday shows that, for certain things, I'm willing to put in the effort. Playing football is definitely one of them. In order to get across London to play at 10:00, I make the time by getting up early.
The easy way out
Here's the problem: "I don't have time" is a convincing, simple, comfortable excuse to get out of doing things I/we would rather avoid.
It's a get out of jail free card. It slips past your conscience guilt-free, saves you the effort of going to the gym, and ensures that you stay the exact same.
No improvement. No change. Nothing new.
The problem is, changing is hard. Preserving the familiar is always the easiest choice. — me
I've written about this topic before. Telling ourselves we don't have time is a great way to maintain Status Quo Syndrome.
The thing is - every minute we spend doing anything is our choice. Gawping at Instagram, watching TV, scrolling through another ASOS sale.
I'm not suggesting that this time should always be used in a more productive way, but it shows that there's time available in the day.
This week, I spent 4h3mins on Instagram and 2h55m on Twitter. How much value did that time provide? What could I have done with 6h30mins instead? Practiced guitar, decluttered all of the bedroom drawers, gone for another run - all things that I've told myself "I don't have time for".
Maybe the first step is changing "I don't have time" to "I'm not using my time effectively". The former is a problem that sounds like it can't change. The latter is a solution.
What changes could you make to free up time for more useful things? Here are 3 of my commitments:
Phone in another room while I'm working to avoid distractions
Don't take my phone into the toilet with me so there's no toilet scrolling
Only read on the tube, rather than watch things on my phone
A bonus one would be to drink less —> better sleep —> won't skip exercise the next day and will generally use my time better than just moping around all day if I'm not tired/hungover.
But that's another problem for another day!
Thanks! 😎
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How am I 1% better this week? 📈
Started half marathon training 🏃🏻♂️ I'm aiming for sub 1h45mins.
This Week’s Recommendation 🔝
Video 📹 - Watch Ski Oakenfull deconstruct one of my all time favourite tunes, Inspector Norse by Todd Terje, and recreate it from the ground up
This Week I’m: ⬇️
Reading 📚 - Klara and The Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro Been waiting a while to read this book. It's quite weird but so far so good
Learning ✏️ - How to make more time of course!
Looking forward to 🕺🏻 - Going to Manchester next weekend
This Week’s Quote 💬
Just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you. Pay close attention to when you're the real you and when you're trying to impress an invisible jury.
— Derek Sivers
There we have it!
Looking forward to catching up next week.