September 2023 - Myth of Time

Ah time, it is such an elusive concept – sometimes it goes fast, sometimes it drags but more often than not, the more you have to do the less time you feel you have! Often people come to coaching because they feel they just don’t have enough time for all the things they want to do (especially the decluttering!), and they think they need “be better”, not be so “lazy” or just “try harder” but guess what… we all have the same amount of time, and these are not the answers!

Some people seem to be smashing out their goals and achieving wondrous things whereas others are struggling just to get organised to get out of the door. Neither circumstance has any bearing on the worth of a person – you are no better a person just because you seem to be doing more. I also don’t believe in laziness- there is always a reason for not doing something or the need to take a rest.

So, what is the reason we are not getting sh*t done if it is not time or laziness or a lack of time? Well, for some it is really hard to make a judgement about how long something may take – this can be off putting when deciding to do something as it is hard to predict when you might finish the task or what you might actually have time to complete amongst other commitments. For others a common reason is lack of interest in the task- literally no desire or urgency to do the task gets in the way. The task not being a priority is a reason too – it may not be the worst thing to do but it falls to the bottom of the pile because it is not urgent. A lot of people simple have run out of steam and nothing is motivating – this can be linked to physical reasons i.e., you are exhausted, mental health reasons such as depression, or for other health reasons you may not have the energy or drive to summon up and do the task. Another reason could be that the task is not straightforward in terms of the steps required to start or finish – for example decluttering may be off-putting because you don’t know where to start or it feels too big or too complicated. Some tasks, like decluttering again, can bring different emotions to the surface which again to make it feel too difficult.

Next time there is a task that you feel resistance towards – whether it is cleaning, decluttering, a specific piece of work or even an event to go to and your first response is that you don’t have time for it, why not dig a little deeper and see what else is there. Let me know what you find!