Owning Time is A Myth…
I am a serial entrepreneur, business connector, and innovator. I also speak and do corporate trainings. I am passionate about entrepreneurship development, arts, youth, and economic progression for the Caribbean. As I type, I am surrounded by the legal documents of my new business that is the most flexible cowork space on the island, the planning for a child rights film festival that I was contracted for, and the changed event model for DOMINATE 360 – The leading global marketing and innovation conference in the Caribbean Sea, happening June 28-30, 2018
The best gift I could give you is the same one I gave myself after surviving the worst hurricane to make landfall in the Atlantic basin ever recorded. That gift is one of surrendering to the truth that I, and you can’t and will never be able to ‘own’ time. I’ll tell you why that is a true gift soon.
Here’s why owning time is a myth. Have you ever heard of anyone being able to buy time, hold it, and then sell it at a later date like stocks? Probably not. I’m not trying to be funny. I just hope to give you a different perspective. I personally haven’t ever heard of anyone that has been able to create time either and by extension alter how it operates, i.e. stop it, slow it down, speed it up. Can you influence it? Sure, and there are three (3) proven ways you can do so to be enormously productive.
Still, if you can’t own time. Then it also stands to reason, that you can’t manage it either. I know I am probably challenging a paradigm. If you do a quick google search (0.43s), you will find more than 149 million results which admit, in one or another, that there is “no such thing as time management”.
Embracing that is at the very least freeing. And that is exactly why we love ‘time management’ tools: we want more ‘free’ time. It frees us to be creative enough to find the RIGHT solutions that help us leverage time and be enormously productive. It also gives us peace. I don’t know about you but most of my stress came and still comes from having to fit a week of activities in 24-48 hours. I love time management tools just as much as anyone. I too want more free time. I have tried hundreds of different tools to help me manage my time and except for 1 or 2, I became stressed trying to figure out how to manage the time management tool.
Here are three (3) things you want to consider if you want to be enormously productive:
- Have you defined what your #EPLifestyle looks like?
If you haven’t guessed it, an #EPLifestyle is an Enormously Productive Lifestyle. Have you defined what that looks like? My #EPLifestyle may be building a global brand that helps others do the same. Another #EPLifestyle is being a digital nomad and making money while they sleep. A parent’s #EPLifestyle may be 100% dedication to raising their children and commit to that process until their children have entered college. Whatever your #EPLifestyle define it. Make sure that when you do, you have a detailed clear vision of what that looks like.
2. What systems do you need in place that are enormously productive WITHOUT you?
It’s not enough to have a system, if the system needs to function. You need a combination of systems that do not require your input. I’m still learning this lesson. I am still recovering from the “I CAN DO IT ALL” syndrome. But as Oprah says, “you can do it all, just not all at the same time”. Systems allow you to not only make progress but to track it which gives you insight on what needs to improve and what is working better than you thought.
3. Are your relationships yielding enormously productive results?
I am a HUGE advocate of building the right relationships. If you want quality relationships, you should qualify them. Time is a limited resource and to be enormously productive, I encourage you to ensure you have the following kinds of relationships:
A) Runners
These are the people on your team that will be of the same diligence. They will ‘run’ with you. They see your vision and are not intimidated by it.
B) Guides
Guides have been where you want to go and show up as coaches, mentors, advisors. They have done it and can tell you how to achieve that #EPLifestyle without hurting yourself and others in the process.
C) Evangelists
These people may not run with you. They are running their own run. They also may not be able to guide you. However, they believe in you. They may be your customers. In my experience they tend to be collaborators and strategic partners. They will convert as many people as they can because you deliver quality services and products and they take every opportunity to add value to that.
A great way to meet people who have an enormously productive mindset, are effectively using systems, and yield productive results, is to go to where they are. Those kinds of people will be at a conference or would have joined a business network. There are many conferences all over the world that provide valuable information and connect you with the right people. Still, if you want to know more about how create an #EPLifestyle and discover both marketing and innovative tool to help you start or scale your global business, then come join us on the beach, in the Caribbean, before the hurricane season of course. Come to Dominate 360.