The key to creating more time is producing more in a short amount of time.
In order to produce more, you need to get good at planning and following through on your plans. Whether it’s your training schedule, meal prepping, foam rolling, learning a new language or going grocery shopping, plan your time, learn how to be uncomfortable and do what needs to be done anyway.
This is NOT another time management tool (friendly reminder: time management isn’t a thing). This is another way to train your brain by giving it direction.
A lot of us make grand plans and don’t follow through because on one of the following: confusion, doubt, self pity or fear. These are feelings that support inaction instead of massive action.
Think about something you want to create in the next 30 days. Pick a result that does not currently exist. Then ask yourself these questions: why do you want to achieve this goal? why will you do it no matter what? who will you be accountable to?
Remember what The Self Coaching Model teaches us: our results are the effect of our actions, actions are triggered by feelings and feelings always come from our thoughts.
In order to get to work creating this result, you need to be connected to the feeling that will drive the actions. We can talk strategy all day, but if you’re not fueled by the right emotion, nothing will get done. Ask yourself, what are the feelings you want and need to feel in order to get this done? Options: committed, excited, willing, motivated, empowered.
Now that you’ve landed on a feeling that will fuel massive action, what do you need to believe to create this emotion and to drive action? Option: I will achieve my goal no matter what, I am capable of this, I want this, This is important to me because ________.
Now that you’ve landed on the result, feeling and thought, all that’s left is the action. Make a list of every single thing you need to do to accomplish this goal. Don’t skimp here, exhaust the brain. Then decide on what your obstacles are for completing all of those things. For every obstacle, come up with a strategy. Direct the brain towards solutions, avoid “I don’t know” (you do know, you just have to figure it out!).
Then comes the fun part: schedule it all on your calendar. This is proactive work that makes everything so much easier. Every single thing on your list must have a place on your calendar and a time frame to complete it. Example: meal prepping requires 1.5 hours of grocery shopping on Sunday morning.
Not only are you adding everything that needs to get done to achieve your goal, but also add your free time, family time, work commitments, etc.
Expect your brain to throw a fit. Sometimes we rebel against the calendar because we don’t like its rigidity. By planning everything including free time, you can counteract that type of thinking.
When planning your calendar commitments, be realistic with how long things take. Don’t be dramatic, be realistic. Your future self will need to follow through on all of it! Following through on the calendar is the most important part. Honor what’s on the calendar like its a meeting with the CEO of your life (because it is!).
If you are focused on being proactive, you end up being so much less reactive. Whether you want to do it or not in the moment is irrelevant. You’ll either experience temporary discomfort now while working to achieve your dreams, or you’ll experience discomfort in the long term when you don’t achieve your dreams/results/outcomes. Which will you experience?
If you’re committed to this process, you will blow your own mind with your level of productivity!
INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO HAVE A PERFORMANCE MINDSET?
