You have the time. You just value something else more.
This past week I attended my 9th eWomenNetwork International Conference. It was a rich experience as always filled with many connections with familiar faces and friends, and met some amazing new women entrepreneurs.
The main reason I attend each year is because of the chance to sit at the feet of some of the wisest men and women in business and hear their wisdom through my present place. We all know that we hear the message we need when we are ready to receive it.
This year one of my all-time favorite speakers Hyrum Smith returned to the main stage where he shared thoughts from his new book The 3 Gaps.
If you’re not sure who he is – he’s the fella that was behind your Franklin Planner ;-) It was from him, as a young woman in my twenties I first developed my strong thoughts and beliefs around time. I learned how to schedule and prioritize and have maintained a strong feeling about time, my schedule and priorities for over 20 years now. Thank you Mr. Smith!
Over the years, I’ve written about our contemporary cultures addiction to busy and have become even more curious about time and our relationship with it. The choices we make and the impact it has on us personally and professionally. Heck I still have a text on my phone from a woman who I wanted to get together with in February who replied, “Time is an issue right now.” She’s someone I considered a friend.
Time isn’t the issue. The priority is the issue. The priority of connecting is less important than what she had dedicated her time to. No judgement. Just a fact.
It happens to us all. We make choices. We place priority of our available time on one relationship, or event or client engagement over another.
Next time someone asks you to engage with them and your instinct is to say, “I don’t have time” pause for a moment and ask yourself, “What am I putting priority on over this opportunity right now.”
It could be related to your business, it could be your family or it could be your health.
It’s a bold, possibly brutal and yet beautiful question to ask yourself, because it gets you to really think about what and who you value.
We all get the same 24 hours in a day. Each of us has the same opportunity each day to achieve our greatest desires. If you can’t seem to get the things done that you know you are capable of achieving, hit pause and look at where you place your priorities.
Let’s say you want to get a certification for your business, but keep saying, “I don’t have time.” What if, as your business coach, I looked at your calendar and said, “Sure you do….you can hop online and do the course before the family gets going from 6-7am.” Would you agree the time is there? Would you put your priority on accomplishing this certification over sleep? Like I said, bold and brutal question.
Is there something you have been wanting to accomplish, but keep telling yourself you don’t have time? I challenge you to look at your calendar and be really clear about what you can adjust in terms of priorities. I guarantee you, we can find the time.
Debbie Page Whitlock is a business coach and leading authority on cash flow for women entrepreneurs, and writes on all things related to creating sustainable, scalable and potentially salable businesses and other useful bits of business wisdom she’s acquired on her 20 year entrepreneurial odyssey.
