We all have this in common: We live in a busy world. And we all have got the same 24 hours to spend. While (at least in theory) we can choose what to spend our time on, most of us are always in a hurry. And we often excuse ourselves with: “I don’t have time for that.” But that’s not entirely true…

I was regularly thinking or saying “I don’t have time for that.”. Was. Until I saw a Ted talk by Laura Vanderkam, a time management expert, who studies how busy people spend their lives. She discovered that extremely busy people, such as a woman with multiple kids, a houshold to take care of and a very successful career, still had time to go for a hike on a Wednesday – a weekday!

Know your priorities

What Vanderkam learnt from taking to her and dozens of other busy people was that it is not a matter of time what you do, but a matter of priorities! The woman just thought that the weather was so good and she had to go for a hike, enjoy her time a little before she proceeds with her busy life. Vanderkam suggests with anything you are interested or planning to do, to think about how important it is to you and your life, and if it supports you to life the live you want. If it doesn’t, it’s not important enough, so don’t do it.

The waterpipe-break

Vanderkam made another interesting example: Think about a waterpipe-break in your apartment. Even though you have a work day packed with meetings, you will immediately find the time to call mechanics to repair the pipe and people to help you clean your apartment. You didn’t have the time for that, but it was obviously more important than some of the meetings.

To me, this TEDTalk was a small eye-opener and I am now thinking more about how I spend my time and if the time I spend is spent well. I hope, this blog post inspires you as well and thanks for making it a priority to read 😉

 

You can watch the TED-Talk here:

Categories: Productivity