Inspiration for a joyful and creative life

“The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it, and habit fills up what remains.” – Marcel Proust

Last week I talked about how I am “experimenting” with time in order to make a positive difference. Click here to read it.

It’s important to realize that your emotions ebb and flow. And that it’s not a matter of if you will get frustrated but how you will deal with it when it happens.

Here are some things that I will be playing with and tweaking to see what works best:

• 1. Changing thoughts and reactions about time
• 2. Creating new habits
• 3. Keeping better track of successes
• 4. Limiting the things I work on
• 5. Letting go of the unimportant stuff
• 6. Adding more fun, relaxation, and rejuvenation

One thing that always helps is to stand back and breathe and get some perspective.

The good news is that there are already strategies that are working now. I’ve got plenty of things that have helped in the past and some new ideas to try.

I’ll be sharing some more articles and ideas with you. Many of you have told me this topic hits home!

I’ve learned that it is well worth my time to figure out how to do more with less.  Less effort, less time, and less money.

This is #29 from my 50 Little Bits of Wisdom article.

It is a worthwhile habit to develop and practice making choices about what you can get rid of and what you want more of.

Do you have an excess of stuff, things to do, and things that no longer support you?

I do want more time and money – you probably do too.  But I don’t want them just for the sake of having it.  It is to create more freedom to do the things I love and to support things that matter to me.

And one way to create more is by eliminating spending time and money on things that you don’t really need or want any more.

What can you let go of to make more room for what you really want?

This is part of a continuing series of Ten Reasons Not to Have What You Want.

Time and money are probably the two top reasons why most people say they don’t have what they want.

You may feel a bit trapped with the busyness of every day life that keeps you from living the life of your dreams.

Maybe you have a full time job, kids, taking care of aging parents, or a whole myriad of things that fill the hours of your day.

Here is the truth, though.  If you Really want something, you can make the choice to find time.  You can choose to do at least one small thing a day to start building momentum.

You can look at what you are currently doing and eliminate something to give yourself a little extra time.

For example, let’s say you want to write but it is too hectic at home and you are constantly interrupted.  You could make a short “appointment” to go to a coffee shop, the library, the park or even in the car.

If you have research to do, maybe you can spend 15 minutes or a half hour of your lunch hour.

You can choose to skip watching a TV show and work on your dream instead.

It doesn’t mean there won’t be hard choices to make but the point is that you do have a choice.

You may not have the luxury of working on your dream full time but it doesn’t mean you have to wait until you have a big block of time.

Some people even find that they get more done with small bursts of focused time than when they have big blocks of time.

Basically you are making a commitment and creating a habit to work on something that will make a difference.

So the next time you say you don’t have the time, decide to make the time instead.