It's About Time
by Susan Tate

“I don’t have enough time!” “When will I have time?” “There just aren’t enough hours in the day.” “If I have time, I’ll get to it.” “I’m so busy, I just don’t have time for myself.” “Where did the time go?” “I’m so stressed because I just don’t have enough time!” Do any of these comments sound familiar?

I recently discovered a great re-frame for the concept of time—and life is so much richer! I’m glad I created the “time” to read The Big Leap, by New York Times bestselling author, Gay Hendricks. He discusses the idea that most of us operate on Newtonian Time, a view that says, “ . . .there’s only a finite amount of time, and it must be carefully portioned out so there will be enough of it to do the things we need to do.” (Whew, just re-reading that sentence restricts my breathing and makes me tense!) Hendricks then goes on to introduce the enchanting idea of Einstein Time. This is a concept that suggests we have a choice to take charge of the amount of time we have. He offers this insight: “Since I’m the producer of time, I can make as much of it as I need!”

How do we “make time”? You may want to “make time” to read the “Living in Einstein Time” chapter in his book, but in the meantime, here’s a bold start. The biggest step is to take full ownership of time. This means taking a radical look at how you have been looking at time your whole life, and to think about where your persona falls on the Time Cop vs. Time Slacker spectrum. Whatever your beliefs are about time are probably pretty ingrained in you. However, you were responsible for putting those thoughts there; now you can choose (only if you want to) to go back into your mind and plant new seeds of belief. Hendricks advocates, “Claim time as yours, and it will release its claim on you.”

When I thought of how many times I have moaned and groaned about being too busy and not having enough time, I was eager to explore this concept. Since I discovered Einstein Time over a year ago, it has been a fun game to note and observe how I now choose to think and talk about time. Life is so much less stressful! I don’t seem to over-schedule myself like I’ve done for years. It seems I had the belief that if I appeared really busy, and talked about how I just didn’t have the time because I was so busy, I somehow felt more important. Looking back, I think I imagined other people were viewing what I did (in my busy-ness) as important too. To be painfully honest, I realize people aren’t spending much time thinking about me or my life anyway! Now I create time to do more meaningful things and it’s less important whether or not anyone views what I do as important. How freeing is that?

This whole idea of never having enough time reminds me of a story I heard some years ago. There once was a man who went to work every day and at lunch time pulled out his sandwich and loudly complained, “Peanut butter and jelly AGAIN! I hate peanut butter!” His co-workers heard this same rant every day of the week. One Friday he pulled out the sandwich, and his booming voice once more declared, “Peanut butter and jelly AGAIN! I hate peanut butter!” Finally, one of his buddies calmly suggested, “Well, Joe, why don’t you just ask your wife to pack you something else?” Joe looked at him, lowered his voice and replied, “Oh, I pack my own lunch.”

What do you pack in your lunch box of time? Do you spend time or take ownership and create time? For those who have a list of responsibilities a mile long, it may take looking at that list and realistically sticking up for yourself by saying no when possible.

Do you want to spend time or create time? It’s your choice. There’s no time like the present to choose which is more pleasing and productive. Three Steps to Support You in Creating More Time Note: I could have written many more steps but wanted you to be able to enjoy implementing this pleasurable concept right away.

1. Gently observe, without judging, each complaint or statement you make about not having enough time.
2. Create time to play around in your mind (yikes!), weed out your old beliefs about time, and plant seeds that are fertile with the new belief that you are where time comes from—name it and claim it!
3. Choose to honor your time, quit complaining, and enjoy playing with the concept of creating time.