Time Thieves
“What happened to this month? I’ve been busy but I don’t seem to have accomplished anything!”
Ever felt like that? It can be the same feeling about a year, a week, a day or even a morning. Sometimes when you look back at that period of time, does it feel like someone stole the time away? Well maybe they did.
In coaching both professionals and longterm unemployed to remain focussed in their career plans, I developed this simple idea for them: there are people and there are activities in your life whose basic purpose is to steal your time.
They don’t ask, they take. They don’t contribute, they take. They do not help you and - while they may not appear to be hindering you either - time is a non-renewable resource: if they waste that afternoon, it’s gone for ever.
Look back at the week just gone…
- What were the leisure activities that didn’t leave you feeling refreshed or re-energised?
- Which people were a drain on your time - not because they truly needed your attention, but because they saw you as an easy “mark”?
- What do you find yourself habitually turning to so that you can put off the hard-things, the responsbilities, the challengeing behaviours that will actually move you forward?
Get a few answers to these questions and you will begin to indentify the time-thieves that are hanging around your life. The next question is:
- Are you just gonna let them rob you from now on? Or is it time to start defending yorself against them?
So HE’S to blame!!!!!
