Recently within our Tribe Parallaxx Adventurepreneurs – Thrill-seekers building adventure lifestyle business, we ran a poll on the greatest challenges experienced within the tribe right now when it comes to creating their ideal lifestyle or business. 

With almost unanimous results, the feedback was the time or more correctly the lack of time to get everything done (as the respondents felt was required) in their business/life. 

As a result, I ran a 3 part live video series sharing insights on the topic for what has helped me immensely with intentional practice over the past few years. 

Ironically, I found it challenging to make time to do this… ‘Bali time’ & ‘Time Warp’ are synonymous phrases I think. But we know that is an excuse right… and more likely an avoidance or lacking priority. Through diving a little deeper, I uncovered a feeling of imposter syndrome of ‘really who am I to be an authority on this topic? I don’t have a magic wand to change anyone’s life’! 

I share this as I feel like it was a great example of how ‘not having time’ is often an illusion that is masking a more ‘risky problem’ that is out of sight of the conscious mind.

So what I will share with you are my beliefs in how I have made massive changes from years of running out of time, and feeling like the world is about to end – to not only becoming much calmer, more present, and being able to enjoy the journey that I am on but also loving where I am at right now. The result, I have found, is being able to live consciously at the cause of my life rather than on autopilot and at the effect of everything that happens to me.

The first major step for accessing more time is taking 100% responsibility for it. Basically, we need to assume total responsibility for our life. No one else, can or should step into trying to fill that responsibility. And of course, includes the way that we choose to spend our time.  (Responsibility success principle is discussed in greater depth here). 

When someone pointed out to me the simple idea that we all have the same exact amount of time in the day – it got me thinking — ‘yeah, so how can some people almost have an excess amount of time to get so much done, while others are achieving so little and still have no time to do what they say they want?

It really comes down to how effective we can be with the time that we have available. Sure, I appreciate being responsible also includes going to work, looking after the family, etc – but it doesn’t take up 24 hours of every day…

So can we choose to use our time more productively or choose to make excuses for it?

I used to listen to podcasts and audible to and from work. One of them was on this exact topic. It included taking responsibility for how you spend time in your life. The example used was how Tony Robbins at one point was facilitating high-profile 12-hour training events, traveling, and managing other businesses and still managed to write an entire book simultaneously in less than 12 months. It blew my mind. 

Even though I was working 12 hours per day with a 2-hour commute, running an international e-commerce business, building another business, and studying the equivalent of Masters in Human Behavior – the above example lit a fire under my ass. I can fit more in my day! 

So this is what I did; I did as much of my learning through audiobooks and podcasts while driving. I took my laptop to work and managed my e-commerce orders in my breaks from the lunchroom, I purchased premade delivered meals to save time on groceries, cooking, and cleaning got damn efficient with transitions between tasks and I didn’t stop until 10 pm. I accepted that 6.5 hours of sleep wasn’t sustainable but I did what I had to do to make it work for the time being.

And you know what, it worked, I did that right up to the point I moved to Bali!
Disclaimer: This is not advocating to simply just do more. That is not always the solution and is not the message here. It is about taking responsibility.

If how you are spending your time provides an insight into what is most important to you, do your actions align with how you want your life to be? 

Tune in for Part 2 of the Challenge of time episode diving into three of my favorites topics; Priorities, Strategies, and Safe vs Risky Problems through the frame of time. Click here.

See you then.
Can’t wait!