One of the biggest excuses that we use when it comes to realizing our goals is, “I don’t have time.”
I understand. Between your job, school, family, meetings, snapping and chatting, Netflix, volunteering, Instagram, sleeping and eating then that it may seem pretty difficult to work on that goal of starting your business, working out or writing your book.
But I beg to differ. Check out what I learned in the audiobook, The Magic of Thinking Big. There are 168 hours in a week and according to a study done, this is how we spend our time on an average weekly basis:
- 50 hours a week at work (counting commute)
- 50 hours a week sleeping
- 15 hours a week eating
- 24 hours a week relaxing, eating, playing with kids, exercising, making love, etc.
- 4 hours a week for church or to watch a game (extracurriculars)
I know it may not be exactly how you spend your time, but if you do the math then this adds up to only 144 hours. You still have another 24 hours unaccounted for after you’ve worked, ate, slept, cooked, exercised, took a few selfies, volunteered and binged on a few episodes of Insecure.
This isn’t a matter of not having enough time but of making the most of the time that you do have. You’ve probably heard me say this before but if your boss asked you to come in an hour earlier or stay an hour later for the next week, then more than likely you would comply and surround your schedule around your job. If you can give more time to your job then why can’t you give more time to your dreams? Like Jim Rohn said, “If you work hard on your job, you’ll making a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune.”
Fortune sounds good to me, how about you?
I ready another study that said that people spend on average 6 hours a day watching TV and 3 hours a day on social media! We are going into a new year and it’s time to start doing things differently in order to see the results you want.
The first step to finding time to work on your goals is to take a snapshot of where you are now. Look at how you spend your time daily and get real with what you want to change.
Now, identify where you can incorporate some of your goals into your daily schedule. For example, let’s say that you want to get closer to God or strengthen your faith. Well, perhaps you can use your time in the morning while you get ready to listen to some faith encouraging messages. Or on your commute to work you can listen to a podcast (mine launches this month), or an audio CD or use that time to just talk to God instead of listening to the radio.
Start to think of yourself as a “5 to 9er.” You might work for someone else from “9 to 5” but what are you doing when you get off of work? You can work full-time for someone else and part-time on your dreams. When you get of off work, you can go to work on your dreams by using this time to work on your goals.
Use your “off hours” to work on writing that book, go on dinner meetings, publish posts for your blog, create your business plan, or take that culinary class. I used to do this all of the time when I used to work full-time at Atlantic Records before I could work full-time on my dreams. I would meet with my web designer, schedule social media posts, research business incorporation and work on my business plan after work, on the weekend and oftentimes while at work if things weren’t busy. I’m a proud student of “Google University” LOL!!! I learned too much by just Googling things at work.
Another and perhaps the most overlooked strategy to find time to work on your goals is to wake up early. Did you know that on average, wealthy people wake up 3 hours before work? In order to wake up earlier, then go to sleep earlier. Turn off the TV and social media at a certain time and go to sleep so you can wake up well-rested.
Use an additional hour in the morning to exercise if one of your goals is to weigh your ideal weight. Take some time to pack your lunch so that you can hit that goal of saving 15% of your income this month.
When you become excellent, you will attract excellence into your life. Often, we want to wait until circumstances change in order for us to be our best and work on our dreams. But perhaps those circumstances are there to help YOU change and squeeze greatness out of you.
So if you need to find time to work on your goals then I highly suggest you download my class, Create Your Daily Success Routine as I’ll show you more details (including time-management techniques) about how to maximize the 24 hours that you have and it’s only $7!!!
If you need help discovering where to start with your goals and you’d like an step-by-step plan to help you achieve your career, business, financial, health or personal goals then download my Goal Slaying 101 audio lesson here. It’s only $15, which is worth the investment into birthing your vision!
You have as many hours in a day as Beyonce girl, don’t waste it.
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
Founder, Embrace Her Legacy
@embraceherlegacy
Embraceherlegacy.com