How to make time
When you absolutely positively have none to spare
I only had an hour to write the proposal.
The rest of the day was completely booked. I was already scheduled to be working straight through dinner time. I had committed to getting the proposal out today.
I was overwhelmed. My mind was all over the place. Yesterday’s tough conversation. Tomorrow’s big meeting. My to-do list. My shopping list. My list of lists.
I only had an hour. I needed to focus. I needed to start. So I sat down… and meditated for 30 minutes.
Meditation teachers like to say, “When you don’t have time to meditate is when you most need to meditate.” This used to annoy me to no end—surely they didn’t face the kind of life pressures I did, the parenting challenges, the corporate culture expectations, the endless meetings. Surely I was exceptional. Obviously I didn’t have the time.
I know better now. But I also know some part of you is probably annoyed with this post. So I’m not going to try to convince you that you aren’t the exception.
I’ll just let you know that the proposal turned out great. It was promptly accepted. I know (without a doubt) that if I hadn’t made the time to meditate, I would have overthought and overwritten it in my state of overwhelm. It would have been a mess. And I still might not have gotten it done on time.
Time, it turns out, is rarely the real issue.
This week
What don’t you have time for?
A workout.
A check-in with a loved one.
A healthy meal.
A walk around the block.
A bit of reading.
A meditation.
There are so many ways to make time.
You can ask for an extension.
You can cancel something else.
You can reprioritize.
You can delegate.
You can also—and this one is my favorite—just do the thing you don’t have time for.
Boom. You’ve made time.
In the comments…
Tell us one thing you’re going to make time for this week, whether by intentionally carving out the time for it or by just going ahead and doing the damn thing.
So true- when you don't have time is when you need to make time! Reminds me of the 7 habits concept of "Urgent/ important". What is important will become urgent if not given the appropriate time. I had to actually set time to have 1-1 development meetings with my staff monthly. There was never a good time to deal with staff issues, but I realized that if I got ahead of it, many problems would be prevented AND they are much more pleasant conversations versus dealing with ignored issues.
Wonderful insights here! Being pregnant, I have been getting oh so sleepy around 2 pm lately. I spent a good number of days trying to just push past this block, creating this false story that I couldn’t pause all my work in the middle of the day. Turns out, that didn’t work so well…. Lately, I’ve started going for a brief walk everyday when I feel this tiredness coming on. I never want to in the moment, but just getting up and going out has made all the difference. Not only do I get the break my body is craving, but turns I’m so much more effective in the afternoon by taking a pause to honor what I need.