#vSensei Finding Time

02 Nov 2015

In running the vSensei program, one runs into a number of common themes, which is worth a meta post in and of itself. That is, how did we all find ourselves at this point in our career, with all the same questions, and not much in the way of guidance. I digress.

The common theme that led to this post was in the “But where do you find the time?”. In fact, this was actually a common question before the vSensei program as well. “How do you find time to $x” where $x is write a book, blog frequently, run a podcast, raise kids, etc etc.

There really isn’t a single strategy here, but some general guidelines.

Be Aware

Go to Walgreens, or whatever corner store, and pick up the $0.25 notebook. You know the one, pocket sized, spiral ringed at the top. Yes this needs to be physical. Now, in said notebook, for a week or so, keep track of the things you do. Doesn’t have to be each minute thing, we’re not looking at micro-blogging, rather, a high level task, and then the time you spend on it.

Record this way for a few days, maybe a week or two.

The idea here is to bring a level of awareness and some insight to where you spend your time. In most cases this awareness is all it takes to start finding the time. That is, you’ll look at said list and realize you are spending time in areas that aren’t aligned with where you want to go.

Feed the Right Wolf

Borrowed from The Nanticoke Indian Tribe

ONE EVENING, AN ELDERLY CHEROKEE BRAVE TOLD HIS GRANDSON ABOUT A BATTLE THAT GOES ON INSIDE PEOPLE.

HE SAID “MY SON, THE BATTLE IS BETWEEN TWO ‘WOLVES’ INSIDE US ALL. ONE IS EVIL. IT IS ANGER, ENVY, JEALOUSY, SORROW, REGRET, GREED, ARROGANCE, SELF-PITY, GUILT, RESENTMENT, INFERIORITY, LIES, FALSE PRIDE, SUPERIORITY, AND EGO.

THE OTHER IS GOOD. IT IS JOY, PEACE LOVE, HOPE SERENITY, HUMILITY, KINDNESS, BENEVOLENCE, EMPATHY, GENEROSITY, TRUTH, COMPASSION AND FAITH.”

THE GRANDSON THOUGH ABOUT IT FOR A MINUTE AND THEN ASKED HIS GRANDFATHER:

“WHICH WOLF WINS?…”

THE OLD CHEROKEE SIMPLY REPLIED, “THE ONE THAT YOU FEED”

This tale actually applies well to a lot of what we work on or towards vSensei wise, however, in this specific instance, the items on the list we created in the “Be Aware” section are the wolves. The time, the feeding. Beginning to see where I’m going with this?

That is, if you want to be a better parent, feed the family time wolf. A VCDX? Feed the wolves that lead down that path.

Learn to Let go

This is another section that is worth of it’s own post. In fact, there have been books written about this. That is, learn to let go of those tasks that aren’t leading you towards your goals. Yes yes, you can’t stop eating to make more time in the day, and there are other say business mandated things you’ll need to do to stay employable. However, you’ll find on your list you spend quite a bit of time on ‘things’ that you may have thought necessary, but in reality, are work spent filling the time. Work spent making the metrics look good, but not really advancing anything.

Buying the Time

The idea here, is to discover which you can fall behind on, even temporarily to buy your progress forward.

The trick with this is, to communicate and negotiate the time and deliverables with those whom are important (family, bosses, etc). To date, each book I’ve published, each event I’ve been to, while they may look great on the twitter feed, have been bought and paid for with time away from the wife and kids. At first I didn’t understand this well, at all. That is:

I came home after a grueling 12 (or something) weeks of various conferences, vmugs, and what not, only to have to announce: “Hey guys I’m off to $city next week.”

To which my eldest replied (in the way only a moody preteen can): “Yeah, whats new.”

At this point, a longer conversation was had about travel, events, and time spent. It’s an area I’m still working on, and likely will never stop working on. I tell the story, so that you understand there is a cost to these things, and the only way to settle said bill, is communication. Communicate with the family, the kids, the boss, and more important than communicate (I feel it’s implied by communicate, however, as it’s commonly used communicate is generally a one way thing), take the feedback to heart and adjust plans accordingly.

Summary

If you can get past the wall of words in this post, you’ll have picked up on a way to find time to do the things you’d like to do, and a cautionary tale of what happens when you push a bit too far.