Sunday story...Time is on My side

Sunday Story…Time is on my Side

No, it isn’t.
Each of us came here with a certain number of breaths, days, and years. We look at time as a linear, limited thing. It is 4PM or Midnight on the 22nd of July 2010. This is a definite point in time that we can all agree upon. It is a set point, if you will. A place we can all agree exists. Since time was first realized some thousands of years ago we have all made an agreement that time is a straight line…time marches on, time waits for no man, time is running out; the clichés go on and on. We all agreed that each minute would have 60 seconds, an hour 60 minutes, 7 days in a week, and 168 hours in a week and so on.

But what if time is not just linear? What if time could dilate, become longer, wider? What if a second could be longer than a second? What would happen then? Could I have more than 168 hours in a week? Could I maybe get 169 hours in some particular week? And if I could get an extra hour would it count against the hours I was already planned for? Or would I get a freebie; an hour that would not count against the time bank of my hours? How luxurious could that be? A newfound hour that is completely free, that the breaths I take in that hour do not count against the total I was given at birth. Wow how cool would that be?

Physicists have proven that time is elastic. They used atomic clocks and airplanes and math and formulas to prove it. If you want to understand it more than that start here: http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2005-03/elasticity.html
Honestly I don’t quite get it but when I read it I seem to think it makes sense. And I am pretty sure I will never get my free hour from these scientists.

I was pretty excited about the idea of expanding time. Aren’t you excited about it? After all who among us hasn’t said…”if I only had more time” or “I could use one more hour in my day”. Vince Lombardi, the famous coach of the World Champion Green Bay Packers, once said, “the Green Bay Packers never lost a football game. They just ran out of time.” We are always lamenting our lack of time to get the things done in our lives that need doing. The “to do” list that never seems to get done. The lineup of goals and dreams that just never get realized and then are shelved for lack of time. Going back to school, getting an advanced degree, learning a new language, exercising more, spending more time with your family all seem to just get pushed away as we scurry around filling our time with the everyday stuff that makes up our modern life.

Do you suppose that the Bill Gates, the Oprah Winfreys and the Warren Buffets of the world have discovered some way to get more than 168 hours in their weeks? It seems that people like that get so much more done than the rest of us. And of course, they are richly rewarded for their time. Maybe they don’t sleep? Maybe they have a special room with a “cone of time” where they can go and spend the extra hour to get really cool stuff done and it doesn’t count against them. So when the rest of us are giving up our every breath they have discovered the secret of more time?

Well they have a secret. A secret that gives them the time to appear super human, the time to get all the things done that amaze and stupefy the rest of us. And I bet you would like that secret wouldn’t you? The secret of time expansion, of creating more time in your day is … (drum roll, please) … Do Less. That’s right, do less to get more done. This is a paradox on the surface. Do less, get more done. How is this possible?

So as I sit down to do the things that I need to do should I just do less of them? No. I should do the things that will move me forward toward the goals I have set for myself. If my goal is to learn a new language, I should have a certain time set aside every day for that pursuit. And when I am engaged in that pursuit, that is all that I am doing. Way too often I get caught up in checking, email, answering email, answering the phone and text messages or any number of other multi-tasking duties. And every time I pull my focus away from the task it is going to take me more time to re-focus on the original task. Thus I am losing time when I multi-task. Your ability to focus and stay on task is paramount. How many windows are open on your computer right now?

Here are four questions to ask yourself as you set out on your daily tasks:
1. Is what I am doing right now on purpose?
2. Is this what I really want to do?
3. Am I following my passion?
4. How am I making a difference (to myself or others)?

Time is not on my side. Time is neutral. It does not care how I use it, spend it or waste it. It just is. It is up to you to use time to serve you. It is up to you to expand time to allow for the things that you really want to do, the things that make a difference to you, the tasks that create passion and bliss in you.

Do less get more done. Give it a try…you can always go back to multi-tasking later.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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