Friday, Oct 7, 2016

I headed out this morning for a run and there was actually intermittent sunshine! It felt good feeling heat on my skin as I ran along the river. I am enjoying making time to run again.

Since Chase and Easton are still in Quito I was running alone. This meant I was running at a slower pace than they set, and it also meant I was able to run the whole way down without stopping! I was happy about that. Improvements are slow but they definitely happen as I stick with it.

I was thinking about “stick with it” and what that means in so many areas of life. In fact if I have improvements or new endeavors I am trying to make in several areas of my life at once, how do I “stick with” all of it? As humans we are involved in personal and family relationships, establishing and advancing careers, creating and maintaining healthy habits for our bodies, learning new skills, studying new ideas, and going to new places.

What is the common denominator in all of these activities? I’ll give you a hint; there are two. The first is “you” and the second is “time”. Whatever it is that you want to be doing, have done, or manifest in your life, it is going to take you putting into motion the parts that need to be present for it to happen. And doing this requires time.

Time, our most valuable commodity. How do you spend it? Personally I think it is easy to squander. A few minutes here, a few hours there, and before you know it, time has gone. Never to see that hour, or day, or week again.

If you want to stick with something it is important to be clear on what those things are. What is most important to you that you will spend your most valuable commodity, Time, on? Write these down.

Try this exercise for 3 days. On a piece of paper draw a line down the center of the page. On the left side write down the things you want to “stick with”. These are the things you want to be spending your day doing. The right side of the paper will be reserved for writing down what you did.

At the end of each day write down the activities you did since you woke up that morning, and assign amounts of time you took doing them. Include things we do because we are alive. and just need to do. Things like “getting ready for the day”, cooking, eating, cleaning, and working at the job come to my mind. List the other activities like web surfing, facebook, television, talking on the phone with friends, etc. that you do as well. And of course list the time you spent doing the things on the left side of your paper.

At the end of the exercise what do you see? This exercise is about awareness. Awareness of how you spend your time and if that is moving you toward what you want in your life, or it isn’t. Spare yourself any self judgment if the picture looks differently than you want. The point is, when we are aware we can course correct, and make changes for what isn’t working, and build upon those things that are working.

Time

Time spent

I’m living in Ecuador and I’m trying new things, learning new things, and also still wanting to maintain and enrich “old” things present in my life. It’s hard for me to get it all done. What is critical is that I choose to spend my most valuable commodity, Time, wisely and effectively…IF, I really am serious about manifesting all the things I want to “stick with” in my life.

Being acutely aware of the choices I am making with my time is the first step.

Chau.