The Time You Don’t Have, Is The Time Someone Else Makes

So often we get discouraged to pursue what we think we should strive for because we already feel overwhelmed with the lives we live. We have daily commitments to our jobs, school and even the families were trying to grow. Making it difficult to even think of adding one more item to our already full plate. But is there something you could do about that?

What is success? Well honestly, to each his own. You define your own success. Generally, success is when you accomplish what you set out to achieve. It can be as grand as saying that you will own a restaurant. Or as simple as saying that you will write your first blog post.

One common observation is that most of these goals challenge us to reach outside our comfort zone. Meaning most who attempt to own restaurants probably weren’t born with the knowledge and skill to run one. This is extremely important to keep in mind. Because it is the answer every success-hungry person needs to know. It is the answer to the question, “what do I need to do to start succeeding?” – Your success lies beyond you’re comfort zone

Okay. Identifying the issue is off the checklist. So on to the next question… How do you begin moving towards the outcome you want?

There are a number of steps you need to take. For instance, you need to set focus. Adopt the mindset of a person that wants to start succeeding. You also need to start learning more about what you need to know to master that important skill. That skill will take you one step closer to achieving your goal.

You need to begin engaging your industry or community. Start engaging your market, potential partners… wise and experienced people that have knowledge on the trials and errors that you need to learn to progress faster.

There’s really so much more and I won’t go into detail on them here. But all these actions and initiatives have one thing in common. They require an investment of your time. None of these will happen on their own. You need to intentionally cause the success you crave.

But I understand that you probably have a busy life. At the end of every day, you are just exhausted. To add to that you probably have school that is pretty demanding. You only get the weekend to really unwind and develop relationships. Long story short, you just don’t have the time.

I get it. I only caution you to realize the obvious. All the actions I mentioned above that will help you start succeeding will never happen on their own. They are like a car. They need a driver to move. Without one they remain parked.

This is what separates the successful from the yet-to-be successful. You need to understand that this isn’t fun or easy. And honestly, it’s not meant to be. It’s hard and painful. Especially initially. Because if it wasn’t, every single person you know of would be a success story right now.

If your desire to become a success is greater than your fear of failing at trying to achieve it, then congratulations you are definitely on your way to greatness.

Sacrifice is key and it is common when trying to accomplish greatness. You can’t be at two places at the same time. So at any one time, you are either getting closer to success or moving further from it. So you are either freeing up 3 hours of your Saturday every week to advance your goals… or you are sleeping in to relax. Priorities. What activity is more important than the other in your life?

Am I saying that relaxing or socializing or playing video games all weekend is a waste of time? No. They aren’t. We weren’t meant to work without play or rest. But if there’s one discipline I appreciate having learned from the corporate world it’s the discipline of managing your time.

Work takes place between 8 AM and 5 PM. In-between that time you have to plan out what you will be able to accomplish. Distractions don’t get to disrupt that. Any random request of your time has to be thought through and then scheduled on a work calendar to be tackled at a later date.

I won’t go into the topic of time management here but a great article on time management if you are serious about giving it a try, is this: Five Time Management Tips That Will Change Your Life.

All I’m saying is that you have to be intentional with how you use your time. Before you know it, you will realize that it’s never been that you don’t have the time… It’s that you don’t have a way to properly manage it so as to set yourself up for success.

Between having a day job, making games, making the music for them, creating marketing and promotional material for the game, blogging, and ensuring that I have content to share daily that will help the people I’m trying to influence… I could just as easily say that I don’t have the time. But it’s not true. I make time for what is important to me and what I need to do to get closer to accomplishing my goals.

What do you think? Is this practical? Does it make sense? Is it something actionable and worth exploring to help us get closer to accomplishing our goals? Please let me know by leaving a suggestion, view, or comment below.