The REAL Problem With Time (In The Long Run, We Are All DEAD!)

You Need To Read

Last year, I read 16½ books. The last one was intense and cathartic so I took my time and finished it last week.

"How to Say Babylon". A provocative book about growing up as a Rastafari woman in Jamaica and what it took to cut the ropes.

Just in case anyone is interested.

Why am I sharing this and what does it have to do with the title of this Wealthy Affiliate (WA) blog post?

Everything!

If you want to be a good . . . no great . . . Writer, you HAVE to read!
If you want to write with ease and converse better with your audience, you HAVE to read!
If you want to make the changes that are necessary for you to succeed in life, you HAVE to read!
You MUST read!

Put aside time to read this year. You will not regret it.

The Problem With Time

Let's reconnect now.

I am reading, Four Thousand Weeks, this month. In his book, Oliver Burkeman puts a different spin on our relationship with time. He takes us back to when there was no time managed by clocks, agendas and calendars.

Before we were all trained to run on the proverbial conveyor belt.

Allow me to quote:

"The REAL problem with time isn't our limited time.
The REAL problem - or so I hope to convince you - is that we've unwittingly inherited, and feel pressured to live by, a troublesome set of IDEAS about how to use our limited time, all of which are pretty much guaranteed to make things worse."

Needless to say, he has convinced me. Not that I needed much convincing.

In The Long Run . . .

Statistics tell us that the average lifespan today, all things being equal, is about 70-80 years.

That is about 3,640 - 4,160 weeks. At almost 60 years old, I have about 520 - 1,040 weeks left.

Not a lot in the scheme of things but I am hell-bent on making these legacy weeks the best of my life. And to do that, I had to change my relationship with time.

What was my most impactful change?

Burkeman writes about this in his book.

My most impactful change was my RELATIONSHIP with time.

I no longer measure time against the clock or the calendar. Rather, I measure it against my goals, objectives and priorities.

It has become fluid and buoyant.

Construct A Meaningful Life

I keep referring to when I first joined WA. My emotional and mental states were wrecked.

There was an obsession with getting everything done now and perfectly. I wrote with vengeance and self-inflicted confinement.

It was only when I aligned what I was doing with the actions I was taking to construct a meaningful life that I started to spread my wings and fly.

It was only when I found my Congruent Point that my life changed profoundly.

After 4 years of trial and error, I have been able to build a successful and growing online business. I now enjoy a lifestyle with my daughter that affords us the luxury of having time placed where we want it in our lives.

The only clock that we allow is the one that, for now, manages her academic needs and my delivery of Client projects.

Everything else is designed around what we WANT to do, when, where and with whom.

Time is no longer our enemy but rather, our friend and it is in that space of fluidity and dances that I find my creativity and my voice.

It is, indeed, a beautiful place to be.

Thank you for reading. 🙂

Cassi