If you like it then you should have put a (time) frame on it.

Sorry, but I couldn’t help but use that for my title. So anyway. Today was the first of many weekly adventures for our family which are subsequently transformed into videos. Today is also the second day of my 100 day challenge which, as the name suggests, is a challenge to consistently work on something for 100 consecutive days. On top of this I already exercise regularly, have my full time career, am a husband, a father to one beautiful baby girl, two dogs, and a fish, and I’m trying to figure out how to meditate as well. Yet, with that going on, I finally feel as though I have time to live my life more freely.

Over the past five years I have spent many hours reading books, listening to podcasts, and chatting with people who have explained the value of planning ahead. Some of those folks would plan their weeks ahead of time and others would set a plan for every day right down to the meal. All of this made sense when explained to me and it was very useful when I followed along. However, I couldn’t seem to stick to it. For some reason I always found myself straying from the schedule and doing the urgent over the important. With that being said, I was still having a hard time planning ahead even though, as Days of Our Lives so eloquently stated, like sand through an hourglass I was wasting days of my life (ok, perhaps not a direct quote). So what gives? What changed? Why, now, do I find it useful? In one word, freedom!

No, not the same kind of freedom that William Wallace fought and screamed for while being executed. Freedom in the sense that I no longer feel trapped by the many daily tasks ahead. I am no longer a prisoner by the next thing on my to-do list. I am no longer pent up or held down by what I have to do next. I mean with so much going on how does one decide which should be done now?? Let me dig a little deeper for you.

I am type-a, generation y/millennial, and a poster boy to show how we now have an 8 second attention span. It’s for these reasons I have a hard time sitting still or concentrating on the task at hand. I always want to look ahead and start working on what’s to come even though I still haven’t finished the first project. This isn’t for a lack of care (most of the time). In fact, it’s almost the opposite. The reason I find myself consistently wandering from task to task is I want to ensure I get to everything on my plate. No matter the sacrifice this causes for the previous task, I will still move forward. I’ll push on and hopefully there is time to come back and finish what I started. And boy is this exhausting. Whether it was rushing through my dinner to try everything in front of me or rushing through my entire day of tasks, I was never at peace with where I was. The good news though is this has recently changed.

One evening while my wife and I were sharing our victories and frustrations for the day, I mentioned I was frustrated that I was rushing my workouts. For whatever reason, I felt like I should be getting into work a little earlier rather than spending the last 15–20 minutes lifting. During this conversation we came to realize this: if I assign my time to lifting then I know I am supposed to be at the gym and nowhere else. I am supposed to be working out. Essentially, I made it a priority that must be completed just as work and sleep. I know it seems basic but it was crazy how much this made sense to me. Rather than using my time in the morning for a quick workout, I assigned that time for lifting and nothing else. This is the important piece for me. I am not to do anything else. Nothing. The morning is for lifting just as the night is for sleeping. This gave me the freedom to be present in the moment and not have to worry about work until the time was right. Literally.

After having this mild dose of success with my workouts, I started applying it elsewhere. I would write down my daily tasks or “to-do list” but to legitimize them and make it more real, I added time frames. I estimated the amount of time needed or provided the correct amount of time to accomplish a task, and decided that is what I was supposed to be doing and nothing else. Not only has this allowed me to accomplish the tasks with comfort and excitement it has also allowed me to fit more things into my day. In the past I would have a list and muddle through it as I saw fit. I would always be thinking about what’s to come and not truly work towards what I was doing. Now, by setting assigning time frames to my days and matching them up with the tasks to be completed, I can accomplish more and live in the moment. I can enjoy lifting, I can enjoy meditating, I can enjoy spending time with my baby, wife, and dogs because I planned ahead and knew I wouldn’t run out of time. Because of this I have the freedom to enjoy more and the freedom to do more!

Overall I am sure there are a million and one reasons to schedule your day down to the minute and just as many reasons not to. Some people enjoy not having to think about what’s to come and others would rather figure it out one task at a time. For me, I can’t express enough how free I feel when I assign my tasks a time frame. It has allowed me to breath easier and work harder (which I greatly enjoy). My energy has improved and my mood has been better. I am excited to feel the continued benefits and perhaps this will work for you too! If so, be sure to pass it along to someone who may need it themselves. If not, be sure to pass it along to someone who may need it themselves. After all, nobody is the same.