3 Ways Time To Make Time Work For You (As A Writer)!

By The Author’s Writer, September 27, 2022

Many of us lament that we do not have enough time.

(For another discussion on this topic, you can read my previous blog post 5 Ways to Create the Time You Need to Write! | The Author’s Writer (authorswriter.com)

It is a well-known fact that all of us only have 24 hours in a day. We require at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night, maybe even more if we are ill or exhausted. Maybe a little less if we do not care about how lack of sleep affects our health and well-being.

So, how do we spend our days and nights? How do we spend our precious time? Are we using time to move forward in our lives?  

Does time control you or do you control your time?

If you did not realize this, time truly is the most valuable asset that each of us have in our lives. We are all equal here. We all have the same amount of time in a day. It’s what we choose to do with this time that makes the difference.

Now, some may say that some people are more privileged and have people to do things for them, which makes their lives easier, or they have more money, or have more of this or that.

But here you are spending your precious time comparing yourselves to others. There will always be someone out there who has more than you. But, on the other end of the spectrum, there are also others who have a lot less than you.

But we are not talking about having here, we are talking about time, and we all have the same amount of it.

So, when it comes to time, let’s think of it in seconds rather than minutes.

This is because lives change in split seconds, which affect how you spend your hours or days or weeks or years, in other words, your life.

If you could go back in time one second, how could you make things better. Think of unkind words said that you can’t take back, a post made out of anger that stays on the internet forever, an automobile crash, a decision to do or not do something. These things only took a split second to think or do yet they could change a life.

How we act day in and day out is because of the subconscious routines that we have created. In a sense we are like computers on automatic pilot (many have said this not just me) and habits become ingrained in us. We act and react and respond and do based upon our habits. Habits which we have created in seconds of time and then solidified by repeating them over and over again.

So, to begin, let’s view time differently. Instead of comparing our lives to others, let’s look at our own lives and see if we view time as a precious and valuable commodity, like a drop of fresh water in a desert oasis. In this situation, we would not want to waste one precious drop of this water, so why would we want to waste one precious second. Because I think we think we have a lot of them. But, do we?  

It is truly up to us how we spend this precious second. Will we think a good or an unkind thought. Will we spend it being thankful for what we have or will we complain? Will we surf the net? Read a book? Hug a loved one? Argue with someone? Thank someone? Help someone?

Learn how to use your time wisely so you can do the things you love more often.

How will we spend those precious seconds?

First of all, stop what you’re doing right now (which is reading this blog) and make a list of at least 3 things you would love to do but do not think you have the time to do. What are they? Why do you want to do them? Why are they important to you to accomplish? Take a few minutes to think and write about this.

When you slow down to examine how you spend your time, I mean, really review how you spend each precious second, you will come to realize that you do waste quite a bit of it without even knowing.  

Even if you can save a few precious seconds of your time, it will make an impact. 

Let’s illustrate the importance of time with an example of eating a meal. Each time you sit down for dinner, you may eat only half of what is on your plate. You may either throw out the rest or save to eat it later on, as in delicious leftovers. Some of you may be thinking that “Hey, yeah, leftovers are very delicious so why would we throw them away?”

That’s right. So precious seconds should not be thrown away either. You can’t get them back. You can always go into the refrigerator and eat those leftovers later, but you can never get back time that is lost or wasted on unproductive things, things that do not advance your life or your own well-being.

You can never get wasted time back. Ever.

Time is a precious treasure

How can you start saving this precious time and allocating it for things that will move your life forward?

You start writing down how you spend each and every second of your day for the next 72 hours.

There is no correct or incorrect way to do this other than to write down the time you start, the activity you do, and when you stopped doing it.

Because when you write things down, you will certainly become more mindful of how you spend each second of your day.

Really be truthful with yourself and take an inventory of yourself for 3 days. This is the first step.

Now, as you record how you spend each second of your time, pass no judgment on yourself. Simply describe and record how you spend your time without feeling or emotion. In other words, you are going to objectively look at how you spend your time and make no comment upon it. At least, not just yet.

After three days, read your log and look at areas where you think you could make better use of your time. What can you eliminate so that you can include those three precious things that you want more time for.

Now, this is where the work starts. You must readjust your schedule to eliminate the unwanted things so that you can fit in the wanted things.

You don’t need a lot of time to do these things. Maybe only 15 minutes for each one.

You might be thinking that 15 minutes is not a lot of time. Well, it is. Remember what can happen in a second? Now that 15 minutes becomes more powerful, doesn’t it?

Time is also a precious commodity because it is exponential.

Each and every day, if you allocate this additional 15 minutes, you will move closer to your goals. Everything you do to move forward is compounded. Looking at time this ways helps you create a foundation from which to build upon what you achieved the day before. The time you spent has not been lost. Nor is it leftovers. This time well spent is cumulative. 

You see, we are creatures of habit. We are also the ones who create our own habits. And adding a new activity that takes only 15 minutes per day can change our habits, which work to form routines and subroutines that run your life.

Yes, we are like computers in a sense. We form routines based upon our own volition. And, because we can form them, we can also change them.

We are not creatures of habit ruled by time. We are in charge of how we spend our time. Always.

So, we have this unique power to create new habits which, with practice, will become the routines and subroutines that help us make quick decisions and how we live out our days.

We have  power over time. Time does not rule us.

Ready to start? Then, let’s begin. You don’t have to wait until the morning. Start now. How?

• Write down those 3 activities you think you don’t have time for.

• Keep record of how you spend your time for 3 days to the second, if possible.

• Rearrange your time to eliminate what does not move you forward so that you can move forward with new habits and routines to reach your goals.

After three days, feel free to comment below as to how much time you rerouted into a new routine, so that you can make things happen rather than saying you don’t have enough time in the day.

Will you?