Only Deads Don't Have Time

A couple of days ago I got aware of one thing learned in the gym: to focus on one thing. And it's so unconsciously done.

Think a bit, with 100kg above, does my mind care whether to eat chocolate later? No way.

Love it or hate it, but growth and focus come from the hard, though, challenging and boring actions.

These are not revolutionary findings of today's era. These concepts have existed since we started to evolve and develop as humans.

There were relentless, disciplined and strategic hunters, and others that could easily get trapped by some colourful fruits camped by other animals.

That translates very easily in today's 'opportunities':

Junk food leading to diseases
Using alcohol and drugs to suppress reality
Watching social media to feed dopamine and anxiety
Commuting that eats a lot of time
Toxic workplace rising the stress levels

When somebody asks me how is it possible to do so much in a day, after I answer, usually they immediately bring in the no time excuse.

If that's you, may I be honest?

The moment you say "I don't have time" is the moment when there's no difference between you and a dead person.

The picture shouldn't be that dark. You have to power to change right now and free.

Don't you want to have an amazing physique? Strong health? Wonderful life? Exceptional control over your day?

I thought so. I want them all as well. Let's start small.

You have to quit something

Be sincere to you: what are the activities that brought you to this position?

Video games? Netflix? Social media? Compulsive eating? Random internet browsing?

I agree they are relaxing and educational, but as with everything done too much, it becomes harmful.

They shouldn't go all together, but in order to physically take back some time, at least one has to leave.

Context switching

Many people confuse it with multi-tasking, which is the one less productive. That concept refers to doing a bunch of things in let's say 30 minutes.

Possible? Sure. Done with high quality? 99% not.

The mind cannot give the same 100% if its focus is changed every couple of minutes without finishing the prior task.

This is how my schedule looks like by doing context switching correctly:

Gym
Write
Work as an employee
Code apps
Meditate/Walks/Stretching

Yeah, time's tight, but I'd rather see this as a reason not to waste it on things that don't create value for me.

Tip: Until I adopted this method, I used the Pomodoro concept via Spider Focus, which is one of my free apps.

Routines (boring ones)

I know, since TikTok became popular, it's tough to do the same thing, on the same day, at the same hour. And that was its purpose, to catch the majority of people in the neat of wanting to do nothing.

But, you and I are not part of the majority, we want to optimise ourselves and remain focused to live a joyful life.

I had hard times with these non-negotiable things until I paid attention to them as any other task and treated them with higher priority, instead of saying "I don't have time for that".

And I mainly talk about cleaning, groceries, cooking. Stuff you have to do whatever happens.

Creating routines around those tasks freed a lot of my time because I knew when is their turn and how to optimise the following week.

Here's my last year house routine, when I lived alone (it's easier as a couple):

Sunday morning - cooking, ironing my clothes
Wednesday evening - cooking
Friday night - laundry, grocery and house cleaning (done in parallel)

Fluffy to-do lists

Do you have that long to-do list having tasks older than a month?

You can delete it right away without issues. It's common to overload it to get the feeling of having something to do, which almost never happens.

Here's a shortcut for an efficient list:

Think of today only
Start with the hardest tasks
Leave at the end the things you already know how to do
Remove the silly ones that don't matter but gives you the excuse of "at least you did something" if done

Avoid negative people

Interacting with negative individuals lowers motivation and distracts from your goals, making you feel like you never have enough time.

Your mind will be wired to those apocalyptic, everything's wrong, everything good is impossible to achieve discussions.

Is that hassle needed? Not at all. Save your mental energy by being reserved with those people, because it doesn't help anyone.

By progressively implementing these things, you'll be surprised to have time to take care of what truly matters for you in life.

Letter's quest

Think about an activity that doesn't bring real value, so you can either give up or reduce it. The goal is to gain 30 minutes.

Yes, just 30 minutes, which will be just yours, each day, to do whatever brings awareness to you.

Shouldn't be something special. Just be present. Analyze where you are in life, what are the blockers and how could you step out of that.

Welcome back within the people who have time to achieve big.

If you're worried about tracking this small progress, give Balance Battle a try (3 free days trial).

Until the next letter, I wish you success in everything you're up to!