Author : Paula EderTime management strategies that encourage you to live your best life will energize you and revitalize your outlook on life Your key to success is aligning your time choices with your values
Whose Life Are You Living?
Your time choices may reflect what you learned from others many years ago But now those routines may constrict your freedom of movement like an outgrown T-shirt! If you often find yourself restless and frustrated, clarify your current values by completing the following exercise
1 Create Your Ideal Day
Envision the most personally rewarding day you can imagine As you create a harmonious flow which follows your personal rhythms, ask yourself:
* When do you embrace active challenges that require learning new skills or developing new strengths?
* When are you most creative?
* When do you nurture yourself?
* When do you choose solitude, or others’ company?
Feel your sense of contentment expand as you align your time choices with your values Use this exercise to deepen your understanding of your values as you experience what truly energizes and inspires you, not what you feel you “should” value
This is your time map to self-fulfillment So include plenty of significant landmarks Write all of this down, or even sketch it out as a map
Enjoy it, enhance it and revise it daily for a week or more As you do so, notice exactly how these choices reflect what matters the most to you This will help you translate daydreams into reality
2 Compare the Real to the Ideal
Now think over a typical day, both weekdays and weekends
* How does each differ from your ideal day?
* How have certain routines dulled your appreciation of the moment?
* Do you need to find more time for meaningful rituals? Small moments add up
Identify the origins of time use choices that no longer fit for you Is there a “should” or “have to” for you to disengage from? Have you modeled portions of your life on the choices of others? What does this mean to you now?
These questions are vitally important, because they reflect how your values change and grow Substituting new choices is not disloyal to others in your life, or to whom you once were Instead, you are recognizing how meaning evolves The more self-referenced you become, the more you encourage others’ explorations, too So the circle of discovery grows
3 Make the Ideal Real!
Now compare and contrast the two days side by side:
* Envision where each day leads
* Now identify which elements of your ideal day you can realistically build into your life, short-term and long-term Create a first step that engages you
* How can you incorporate your first new step, and then a second, into your current life?
* If an activity in your ideal day can’t be realistically incorporated, such as a two-hour workout at the gym every morning, how can you substitute a viable alternative, such as a shorter, targeted series of exercises at home on weekdays?
* How will the addition of one time choice, and the subtraction of another, shape your feeling about the course of your life?
Your wellspring of energy resides in living your values Tap this power to make the most of your life It’s a simple equation; the more you use this exercise when you outgrow your current life, the more rewarding your time choices!
How can you start implementing these powerful steps to make the very most of your time?Coach Paula Eder, Ph.D., The Time Finder Expert, has 35 years of success helping individuals and small businesses align time with values.
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