Can you imagine what having more time feels like? by IQTELL
You probably encountered this several times in the past, people talking about their tasks as something that saps their energy and leaves them powerless. Most of us treat our tasks with discontent; like they’re stealing from us what little time we have. Being productive and completing tasks on time is regarded as boring while doing nothing and relaxing is regarded as the pinnacle of our goals.
Are we really trying to be more productive so we’ll be able to do nothing?
If you answer with a yes, you’re missing the point. No one can relax if they have pending tasks, and doing nothing leads to just that. So why are we trying to avoid work at all cost and complain that we need more time?
The problem lays in our perception of what our productivity should yield and what should we do with “more time”; if our goals are laser focused around doing less we won’t develop skills that will help us complete tasks faster and manage our time better. For me, being productive means having more time to do the things I want and the things I want motivate me to complete my tasks faster!
…What would you do if you had more time?
A few years ago when I made a decision to do more with the time I had (after reading the GTD book), my perception changed. I understood what having “more time” really meant for me…
First, I understood that having more time helps me to be with the ones I love
One of the biggest benefits of getting everything done is the fact that you have more time on your hands (and no worries in your head) to be with the people you love. Spending time with the people you love has two positive effects:
1# It reminds you what you’re trying to build and for whom are you trying to build it for.
2# It fuels us with motivation and inspiration.
Having that motivation engine helps us to focus on the goal and get things done so we’ll be able to spend time with the people we care about the most.
When everything works like a clock you have more time to create and be creative
When I finish the day’s chores early, I like to set a bit of time to plan the next day. This takes me to my accomplished goals, clarifies my objectives, gets me on the next day’s tasks even before the day starts and helps me confront possible obstacles.
After I’ve got that out of my head…suddenly, the mind starts to wonder, and because it’s not occupied with putting off fires, new ideas start to pop.
The most creative people this world had seen knew how to clear their day to day chores effectively and focus all their efforts on achieving something extraordinary, among them you can find people like Leonardo De Vinci, Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein. Their ability to focus allowed them to achieve significant advancements in their field; a field most of them started engaging as extracurricular activity or a hobby at first, and little by little shifted their entire focus to.
People who are less stressed are less busy because they get more done
This is basically self-explanatory; putting out fires creates a lot of stress which sabotages your ability to focus. As a result, you get less done, hurt your health and eventually ruin your ability to focus completely…running circles after tasks you lack resources to complete.
My ability to focus helps me to reduce my stress levels and clears my head. I’ve written in previous posts on how Without stress you sleep better at night, how your ability to turn failure into success improves when you take stress out of the equation how you focus better and organize your work properly when you’re unburdened.
If you shake off the notion that being more productive means more tasks or alternatively, working more hours, you might find that you have more time to be creative, spend more time with your loved ones and live a life that is full and fulfilling.
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