The best time management tool ever — a secret marketing experts do not know
I’m a spiritual teacher who has been studying marketing for the past six months. Mindset and time management are the first two things that are addressed in most classes.
The secret of time management turns out to be that we’re actually managing our energy, not our time. The current wisdom is that there is only so much time in the day and since we are locked into the 24/7 format, the way to manage time is to manage our energy flow.
And that’s a great insight — learning to conserve energy, how best to utilize your energy at peak points during your day, how to assign the best tasks to different aspects of your energy.
For instance, my concentration and focus is best in the morning. So I do not meditate in the morning. I write. Morning is writing time.
Mid-afternoon, for me, is coaching time. My concentrated mental focus has lessened, and now I’m ready for social interaction. I skew to the introvert side, but interaction with humans later in the day is actually energizing for me.
Late afternoon is optimal for meditating because I’ve checked off my to-do list and reached a point of accomplishment where I now need a rest. Meditation is the highest, and deepest, form of rest for humans, so I do that :)
This worldly marketing advice helped me realize that much of my former busy-ness was spent putting out fires and attending to important stuff without carving out time to consistently and persistently chip away at priority projects.
But here’s the thing the marketing experts do not know:
Time can be manipulated.
You heard me.
Time is malleable and you can stretch it … or shorten it.
Prove it to yourself right now:
When you have a toothache, doesn’t 20 minutes drag on forever?
And when you’re driving on an open highway, lost in thought, where did the last 20 minutes go?
As an entrepreneur, you are someone with courage, imagination and the ability to think outside the box. Time is just an idea!
Louis CK does a bit on time in his 2017 tour. It’s cute but doesn’t give any practical advice. And I love practical advice. So here it is.
The best time management tool ever:
Acknowledging to yourself that time is elastic. You can stretch it, like taffy.
Yep, this little time management master is starting young. Great training!
The way to manipulate time is to align with the Timeless.
You can align with the Timeless through meditation, mindfulness, contemplation, suspension of thought, and prayer. I discovered this extremely practical and efficient approach to time when I had a private practice as a psychotherapist in New York City.
Occasionally, when a client arrived late for her session, she would be quite agitated at not having her full 50 minutes. I began to notice that the same quality of work could be achieved in a 20 minute session, as in a session that ran over and went to 60 minutes.
As I paid attention to how this could be, a few explanations emerged:
- There was a built-in urgency to the work that forced the client to focus and delve deep without warming up.
- The upset feelings were a potent catalyst to diving straight into work that might be elusive otherwise, because emotions that were usually buried under the surface were now in plain sight.
- With one particularly upset client, I said a silent prayer, and received Spiritual Guidance:
“Therapy time is potent and condensed. It contains all that is needed, and continues to expand and heal throughout the week, between sessions. Time is elastic and can be lengthened and shortened.”
I repeated these words, with unworldly confidence, to my client, who, to my surprise, rather than dismissing them, was comforted. In fact, when she returned the next week she informed me, “It’s true that you can manipulate time! I’ve been doing it all week. I’ve left late for work and gotten there on time. I’ve conducted meetings that usually take an hour in 20 minutes and gotten more than the usual amount covered!”
You can dismiss this as woo-woo, or come up with a scientific explanation. Either is okay with me, as long as you try embracing the idea that time is malleable.
After all, Aristotle, Newton, Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Liebniz, Kant, Einstein, and countless other philosophers and scientists have studied the mystery of time and no one can fully explain it or come to an absolute agreement.
So why should you be confined by arbitrary explanations?
Open your mind and align with the Timeless. Not only will you be amazed at how your schedule falls into place, you may just have a mind-blowing spiritual experience.
Love, Amy
P.S. If you’re not allergic to woo-woo, read A Master’s Key for Manipulating Time by Ramtha.
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