One simple tip to get you doing instead of wishing
Recently, I tallied how my time was spent on an average weekday. Factoring in commuting time, my job accounts for between 13 and 14 hours of my day. Sleep comes in for seven to eight hours. That leaves me between two and four hours, give or take. But how am I supposed to get something else done? I’ve asked myself more than once.
Yes, there are times when I have had to ward off sheer exhaustion after a hard day’s work. This is even more evident when I have some assignment to submit or I have to review some assignments of my peers online. My gruelling work schedule alone gives me enough reason to sit back and take it easy.
The Destination
But I have decided I want to be a great writer. And a successful one at that. I won’t share what success means to me with you just yet, but I have a few markers. I am using my one-hour lunch break to type this article at the moment. That might be all the ‘free time’ I get today. But I am a man on a mission, and I am ready for whatever it takes to get me to my destination.
Your case may be different than mine. Or even worse. You might be bothered with a laundry list of pressing issues to address. But guess what, you have time to check your notifications on Facebook and Instagram, right? How many WhatsApp statuses do you view every day? How much time do you think you spend on Social Media (you are exempt if you’re the Social Media manager of your organization)?
What about TV and Netflix? Are you an avid gamer? I won’t bore you with statistics on how much time is spent on TV, phones, gaming consoles, etc. There is a time and place for those, so I’m not being critical of people who do that, or against it altogether. Occasionally I watch a few shows. (Hello Young Sheldon, Insecure, Ambitions, Games People Play). But I do that within strict boundaries, usually over a meal.
Yes, some are ‘more equal’ than others. If you are happy where you are, more power to you, sister. If you’re comfortable with what you’ve accomplished in life, congrats. You’ve made it, bro. I can see the battle scars. I’m envious, even jealous. I’m looking forward to joining you at the top. But until then, I have to do what I have to do to while I trod the path of greatness.
I believe some people’s lives are the equivalent of buying a powerful gaming laptop solely for word processing. I know that because I was once there. I have seen far too many young people like me claim they don’t see how they can get enough quality time to sit down, take stock of their lives and put things in perspective. After all, why fix what is not broken, right? Some others have great plans for their lives, wonderful dreams and goals. Only they can’t find the time to put in the work required to get them where their plans point to. And they wonder why they seem to be stuck in a rut.
In summary
I’ve rumbled on for far too long, but I hope you catch the drift. There is time to eat, sleep, etc. because they are absolutely essential for survival. What if you attached the same level of urgency to whatever you (want to) do? What if you made it look like your dream is a necessity, that if you don’t take action on it, you’re consciously killing it? My guess is you can carve out some time do it.
The next step you take gets you a step closer to your destination. I’ve started taking those steps by writing this piece. How about you?
