I don't know. That's why I decided to explore multiple paths, not just one.
People often ask me how I’m able to do so much.
The simple truth is I’m quite an intentional person.
What this means is I put my attention on things that matter to me.
To begin with, I have a clear sense of what I find meaningful.
Secondly, knowing this enables me to direct time and energy into what matters most.
Self-awareness is what changes the game.
Over time, I’ve become better at understanding myself.
And it’s completely changed how I show up every day.
Today, I’m more mindful of my choices.
For instance, I take great care in how I structure my life and each day.
Any outcomes are a result of my choices, not by chance.
But things weren’t always this way.
The Ugly Truth
Although I hate to admit it, for a large part of my life, I was a people pleaser.
I’m someone who doesn’t like conflict, nor confrontation.
So, to keep the peace and make people happy, I’d sometimes say yes when I wanted to say no.
In hindsight, this behaviour was counterproductive.
Somehow, it made my life far too complex.
It introduced clutter.
Projects I didn’t want to do. People I didn’t want to see. Pointless obligations that didn’t matter.
Being overly amicable eats your time and drains your energy.
Plus, wasting time overcommitting to unimportant tasks steals focus from your aspirations and goals.
Taking Back Time
Like many things I write about here, I had to reset my ways.
No surprises that to be more intentional and focused, I had to master saying no.
However, it wasn’t easy to let the old version of myself go.
Breaking old habits and patterns of behaviour is brutally hard. We all know it.
Saying no though is how you dodge distractions and win back time.
Here’s how I see it:
We cannot manage time, but we can manage the use of our time.
Each of us has the same number of hours available each week.
But it’s how we choose to use these hours that determines our outcomes.
And this shapes who we are.
The real trick is to make the time available to us truly count.
The "Get Real" Blueprint
So, how do we tune into who we really are?
For me, it took raw honesty.
By that I mean uncovering exactly who I am and what I wanted to achieve.
Part of my journey was discovering what gives me meaning.
In fact, living meaningfully is a topic I’m passionate about and write more about this in this article here.
Still, to figure this out, I had to take a deep look inside myself.
No surprises but, as a writer, I found it incredibly helpful to put my thoughts down on paper.
Those raw thoughts have evolved into a full 5-year plan for everything I want to pull off.
In many ways, the above is my blueprint for making things happen. And nothing is out of reach.
Rather, I’ve added start and completion timeframes to hold myself accountable.
And when it comes to getting things done, these to-dos are now daily obsessions I get lost in.
Chasing What Matters
Cut to the present and I today treat my plan as a living document.
I’m constantly reviewing it, adding new milestones and crossing off others.
Even as I sit here writing this blog post, my plan is visibly pinned on a wall in front of me.
Keeping it in plain sight anchors me to the direction I need to move in…where I’m heading.
Not just that, but there’s nothing like the feeling of ticking off a goal you’ve achieved.
Putting Your Mind To It
So going back to the question, “How do I fit in so much?”, my take is it comes down to learning how to use your mind well.
Why? Well, when you use your mind properly, you direct focus consciously.
Essentially, you get good at directing your attention into things you care about.
And mastering this skill can help you expand your capacity enormously and to maximum effect.
Given this, my rule is every day is about alignment.
If a task or action doesn’t fit the blueprint, it doesn’t get my time or attention.
Everything I do each day has a direct connection with my bigger goals.
It’s the only way to live a life designed by intention, not default.
After all it’s by being true to ourselves that we experience genuine fulfilment.
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