How to find more time

Making the best use of time

Time is the most precious thing for everyone, even more so for entrepreneurs. But unfortunately, we all have the same numbers of hours in a day. Time is the only thing that we cannot buy more of, even if we want. So time is an available but precious resource. It is a leveler.

How do we make the best use of time? For that, may want to read the 4 hour week by Tim Ferris or some other books on efficiency and productivity to increase the time available to us.

Last week, I stumbled on a book called ‘The miracle morning: the not so obvious secret guaranteed to transform your life’ by Hal Elrod. This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in finding a bit more time. I am an early riser, but with nothing planned, there was no urgency in getting up early until I read the book.

Many of us read books, listen to tapes or audiobooks but rarely follow the teachings and take actions.

This is a summary of this fascinating book.

Having read the book, I have to admit that the simplicity of it got me fired up.

Make sure you get up early, the earlier the better. Let’s say 5.30 am or even earlier. There are no specified time, but 90 minutes to 2 hours earlier than your normal time will do (unless you are an early rise already). The book provides some examples on the importance of getting up early. Once you are up, spend 10 minutes on each of the following four tasks; silence, affirmations, visualisation and exercise. Then read and write for about 20 minutes each. For a total of 90 minutes. You can do a shorter version by cutting all the above times into 2. You can even spend a minute each on each step, if you only have 6 minutes to spare.

Simple but life changing

I find the process simple enough, but like everything in life, you need to plan what you will be doing before hand.

The first 3 items on the list were more challenging for me. I was not used to silent meditation, but the book helps you and you can find more information about meditation, affirmations and visualisation on YouTube. Exercise can also be in the form of yoga, walking or any form of exercise. In my case, I prefer walking but others may prefer running or going to the gym.

Reading the right motivational books may help to get your juices flowing, develop and enhance your knowledge and help your to focus . There are literally hundreds of books on the subject of entrepreneurship or motivation whichever takes your fancy. You may prefer to listen to audiobooks rather than read books. YouTube videos are great for those who prefer this option.

Irrespective of the method of motivation, action is needed to follow through in reaching your goals. Wherever you see yourself in a few years time, you must slowly but surely match towards that goal.

Start your day early and start right

So if you ever thought you need more time in a day, then, an early start may be the answer, you may also try to reduce some of the time spent on other things. Can you negotiate to work from home, some of the time? This may save you the commuting time to be spent on other critical projects. As mentioned before, time is the most precious asset that we are unable to buy, replace or replicate once lost.

The premise of the book is that we can do more if we have the time, but we rarely have time for all the things we want to achieve. Even if you have a full time job, do you need time to work on your side hustle? If that is the case, then setting aside a few hours a day can really help in getting you closer to that time.

The book has some great nuggets and I hope you can find the time to either read the book in full. There is also a journal that you can download from the website https://miraclemorning.com

Keep searching

You must keep searching for your true self, but it is a journey with no end in sight. As soon as you reach your set goal, it is time to set your sight further ahead.

We are all in this together. A US research shows that only 1% of Americans are wealthy, 4% are financially secured and the rest will struggle to make ends meet all their lives. That is a very profound thing to know that only 5% of the people in the richest and the most advanced economy of our time have these statistics. It is difficult to fathom this across the world, but let us assume that the same situation repeats itself, then only 5% of the global world population is financially secured about the future.

If this is true, then we need to move this needle further and flip the coin to the other side where at least 95% of the world are financially secured. Even 5% struggling to make ends meet is not good news.

Entrepreneurship can definitely help to improve the way we see work and the way we live in order to achieve our goals.

I must admit that when I take an audit of the way I spend my time, I can definitely spend less time on some things and more on the essential things I really want. Like most people, we can always spare some time for the things we love to do. Every week, no matter how tight I am on time, I always find time twice a week to play tennis. This may have to do with the fact that I never want to disappoint the friends I play with. This shows that we an always find time for the things that are important to us.

Find what suits you best

So if you are struggling to find time to exercise, you may form a team with a friend or colleague that you want to exercise with. This may make it more fun. A colleague always run with another friend. They never really consider their running as a form of exercise. For them, it’s a way of catching up and getting away from their hectic lives which is fun.

This is a great book for anyone interested in finding time to be more productive and follow their dream.

Spending your time wisely