Michele Attias Life Coach

Why It’s Critical You Stop Time Wasting Today

Time travel is not just an extraordinary concept reserved for the 80’s movie Back to the Future, it was made real to me a number of weeks ago as I travelled to America.

After undergoing 11 hours on a never ending flight from London to Arizona, I was quite pleased with the fact that since the time at my destination was 8 hours behind, I would be able to relive the same amount of time twice.

The universe had kindly gifted an extra 8 hours that day.

It begged the question; What if we could relive the same period of time?

  • What would would we change?
  • What would be different and why?
  • What would we skim away and what would we hold on to?

In my culture, we recite a short blessing each morning as we awaken, where we give thank you to God (for you it might be a higher power, the universe or energy). This blessing is a thank you for having returned our soul back to us that morning, clean and ready to start anew.

It allows for another chance to forgive the past, to let go and to approach the day with a renewed energy to start from this point forward. The soul is returned to us in the morning clean with anticipation for what we could create without being weighed down with yesterdays issues or mistakes we might have made.

We are given extra time as we awaken, yet we don’t see it as critical that we start what we set out to do, we just take time for granted. We often procrastinate, complain, expect, but we don’t see that each day brings a new dawn, a renewal and a chance to use this time with the vigour that is expected from one that has been given extra time.

The Co-Founder of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs used to ask himself one question each morning;

If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today? If the answer is ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

I’m not trying to bring morbid thoughts of death, but imagine how quickly you would develop those projects waiting in the pipeline, if you lived life as if your time was truly finite.

Most of us want to make a difference, impact others in some way, but the issue is that we don’t know how to use time. We waste it unnecessarily on distractions, checking e-mails constantly, unnecessary Facebook activity, posting and reposting on social media to gain some external validation.

We might even spend it on people who drain our energy, mindless pursuits, reality tv and then we complain that we don’t have time, or even worse, that we don’t know what to do with our time.

The late Singer and Songwriter George Michael, whose death had quite a surprising impact on my life, as his songwriting carried a depth that we all felt but could not verbalise. He connected this for me in one of my favourite of his songs ‘Playing for time.’

He sang;

These are the days of the open hand, They will not be the last,

Look around now, These are the days of the beggars and the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man, Whose place is in the past

Hand in hand with ignorance, And legitimate excuses.

After his death, this song held a whole different meaning to me. More so because I had first heard it in my 30’s as a new mother, it held a certain poignancy then. Over a decade later, it has re-opened into something altogether different and much more meaningful.It signalled our need to play for time, making endless and legitimate excuses which keep us stuck where we are.

Time is the only commodity that we have and we are able use to our advantage. We wonder around asking mindless questions and rehashing the past, rather than enjoying the present and creating a future we can leave as our legacy.

Coaching my clients is always a revelation as I observe copious amounts of time wasting, thickly disguised as a cloak of resistance. The mindless time wasting holds hands with resistance as they craft a merry dance. The more distractions that can be deployed, the further we are from claiming our destiny and putting focus on what we really should be doing.

This might translate into dysfunctional relationships, dead end jobs or mindless pursuits. Once you shut out all activities which don’t serve you, you are then able to focus on time and use it to its highest capacity and for the highest purpose. It is up to you to become a master of living and working purposely.

It’s critical you learn to gravitate towards creating more control over your life by gaining sight of what you’re committed to creating, and in this way aligning your strengths, passions and goals so that life doesn’t pass you by.

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