Imagine being given the gift of 1,440 minutes today to spend in any way that you choose. You can spend those minutes doing things you have to do, or enjoying things you'd like to do. Either way, we all receive the gift of 1,440 minutes each and every day to spend in whatever way we choose.
We can all identify with waking up chasing the day, wishing we had more hours to get through our massive to do list, only to fall into bed exhausted, wondering where the day went.
Even more frustrating, many days we get to the end of the day and realize although we were very busy, but spent little time on the things that mean the most to us. A major factor in determining the quality of our lives, is the choice we make in each moment on how to spend our time.
It's a matter of priorities. If we look at where we're spending our time, there are always things on the list that don't bring us joy and we would be happy to never do again. Part of the beauty in life is that those things that are "work" for us, are often a joy for someone else.
The secret is in knowing your priorities and knowing what you can say "yes" to.
To really understand this, it helps to ask yourself, what fills your heart with such joy and excitement that you just can't wait to do it? What would you do just for the sheer joy of it, even if you didn't get paid? People that follow their passion live a life of fulfillment, by avoiding the energy drains that usually turn into time wasters.
Time is devoured when you're doing something you don't enjoy and those precious moments are gone- never to return. Then lack of time becomes an even greater problem and the cycle continues and accelerates, like getting sucked deeper and deeper into quick sand.
If we change our habits that have created the problem, we can break the cycle by simply refocusing on our priorities.
According to today's Inspirational Luminary, Michael Bungay Stanier, work can be broken into bad work, good work and great work. Typically, bad work consumes 10-40% of our time and is comprised of the things we have to do, not what we choose to do. These are usually the routine things in life that we define as responsibility. Our talent and passion go unused when we are doing bad work.
For most of us, the majority of our time is spent performing good work. Even though we're not stretching our comfort zones or growing, good work is comfortable, familiar and productive. There is stability in life and a routine that makes us feel safe.
The real excitement and oft times the greatest risk, comes from doing great work- our passion in life. This work both challenges and inspires us. When we're doing great work, we feel the most alive! Sadly, the average person spends less then 25% of his or her day doing great work. It's usually what we desire to do most, but actually create the time for the least.
Michael teaches how to get going and get unstuck. It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar (although he is one) to know that we create our own level of happiness by how we spend our time. He'll challenge you to look at your own life to evaluate your current mix of how much time you're spending in each of these areas.
When we take the time to truly look at who we are, what really matters to us, what brings us alive and what work we're doing in the world, we open to possibility. As we gain clarity on this alone, we are propelled towards more great work and a more fulfilled life.
The goal then becomes to spend more of our time doing great work. That's easiest to achieve when we look at what we're saying "Yes" to, and conversely, what we're saying "No" to. A life filled with great work means stepping forward towards a life of greater impact.
No one benefits when we're miserable and playing small in the world. When we choose to eliminate the things in our life that don't bring us joy, it's not selfish, but rather just plain smart. By consciously reviewing and focusing on our great work and walking away from those things that don't serve us, we'll receive more time, more joy and greater ways to serve the world.
Today, may you have the courage to walk away from those things that no longer serve you, create the time to do the things that bring you the greatest joy and celebrate the things to which you can say "Yes"!
We invite you to listen to today's FREE Inspired Interview with host, Gail Lynne Goodwin, Ambassador of Inspiration from InspireMeToday.com and today's guest, Michael Bungay Stanier.