You Have Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty of these every year!

Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty.

Written like this, it sounds like a big number, maybe like there’s a lot of it. But if that’s the case, why do I never feel like I have enough time? 8,760 – that’s one year’s worth of hours! Where do they all go?

Is this your experience too? Whether I’m working or relaxing, there never seems to be enough time to fit everything that I want to do into my day. I always seem to end up rushing around and then come the end of the day I’m wondering what, if anything, productive or goal-oriented I’ve achieved.

Of course, it’s not that I can’t remember what I’ve been doing during the day, but sometimes I’m disappointed to conclude that the things which have been crossed off the list weren’t that important in the scheme of things anyway, and, to make things worse, they’ve not really contributed to my long-term plans.

I’ve recently gone through a process of reviewing and renewing my goals in an effort to gain more clarity and focus. This has been a very worthwhile use of time (thankfully!) and I now feel clear on my business goals for the next 3 -6 months. There will be much work ahead to move my goals forward, and, at the appropriate time I will share that progress with my readers. But, like many people, I have been suffering a minor level of procrastination about moving things forward. Some of the work ahead is totally new to me, it will require research and action which will take me well outside my comfort zone. I also can’t be sure of the time it will take or, indeed, whether I will be successful, but, progress must be made. So with this in mind, I’ve been holding on to a quote from Earl Nightingale…

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.

So true, wouldn’t you say? And so easy to understand and accept. Out time is passing continually and manipulation is fruitless. We all receive 8,760 hours each year, no more, no less, and so it becomes imperative that we control our own propensity to waste time, unless the object of the particular moment is to ‘waste’ time, whiling away the hours on nothing-in-particular…

You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.

 – James M Barrie

And so, I whiled away some hours…probably a few too many, but I was still feeling that something was missing from the goals I’d newly articulated. I felt it had something to do with my health and wellbeing, but I still couldn’t get at the nub of what was bothering me.

And all the time I was whiling away the hours…procrastinating I was feeling guilty. Guilty for not getting on with the work needed to progress my goals. My mind continued to maintain its list and cajoled me with ‘you should be doing this or that, stop lazing around!’  And yet, I couldn’t let it go.

The remedy to this I find is to actually plan to while away the hours. If we treat ‘wasting time’ like any other diary appointment, then we are less likely to feel guilty about doing so. We could even have a diary entry which says something like ‘goofing off time’! Could that make it feel more acceptable?

But the truth is that we need these guiltless down times not only to relax, but also to allow our minds to process the multitude of information we bombard it with. Our relaxed mind can contemplate creatively and without pressure and it’s during these times that we often experience ‘a-ha!’ moments when a solution that’s been evading us finally makes its appearance.

And then there it was, the ‘a-ha’ I’d been waiting for. The goal which had refused to be surfaced any sooner.

People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.
– John Wannamaker

It wasn’t a health and wellbeing goal I was looking for, no, suddenly I knew it was fun and adventure. I wanted more fun and adventure in my life and the things that were missing are the things that make me laugh, make my spine tingle with excitement and fear or make me see things with wonder.

Suddenly I wasn’t wasting time anymore, I was actively looking for things which would make me laugh, make me excited or even frighten me! And what was the outcome of this exercise? A list! A list of lots of activities which I then realised is actually a bucket list! I’ve found the whole process exciting, I feel energised by remembering things I’ve always wanted to do (go into space!) and discovering new delights that I hadn’t even thought of (indoor skydiving!).

My Bucket List now runs to 45 activities; some will be easy to achieve, others will require much planning, time and money to accomplish, but just having the list has given me a huge lift! I now feel that I have an opportunity to achieve a greater balance in my life and that I…

Know how to live the time that is given [you].
– Dario Fo

So, what of my Bucket List?

Well, I will be sharing it on my blog in future blog posts. I’d like to share with you my progress, stumbling blocks and any disappointments which may crop up along the way. This will be an ongoing and exciting mission…let the games commence!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post!  Do you have a bucket list?  Do you have any suggestions for things that should be on my list?  Please leave your thoughts – I’m eager to hear from you all!

Photo: LaPrimaDonna