How to Have Time Freedom - Right Now! Part 1 of 4

Recent polls show that "time freedom" is the number one thing that people want more of in their lives...more important than both money and sex. How would you define "time freedom?" How about "the freedom to decide what to do with your time?” Of course, we all have the freedom to decide in ...Recent polls show that "time freedom" is the number one thing that people want more of in their lives...more important than both money and sex. How would you define "time freedom?" How about "the freedom to decide what to do with your time?” Of course, we all have the freedom to decide in every moment. We can decide to sleep in on Monday morning but the consequence may be that we lose our job. Perhaps we need to add something to our definition.   "Time freedom is the ability to decide what to do with your time without neglecting the other things you have decided to have in your life." This definition takes into account that we can all have time freedom if we choose not to have other things in our lives like relationships, money, nice things, hobbies, travel, etc. "I want it all!" is the common declaration that created the busy world we live in. "I want to look great, live in a great house, have a wonderful family, travel, entertain, AND have the time to get a massage and read a book and go sailing on Tuesday afternoon." Is this possible? It’s the "American Dream." It’s what drives our economy. America has one of the highest standards of living in the world. Increasing numbers of people have achieved the American Dream. Many, however, do not recognize it when they get there. From our definition it would appear that freedom is the ability to decide. We decide what we want to have in our lives and we decide what to do with our time. These decisions often conflict. For example, we may say we want to travel and see the world but then never go anywhere. Or, we say we want to look and feel great but then we spend our time in activities that make us feel lethargic. The conflict stems from a lack of attention to what we really want in our lives. Do you REALLY KNOW what you want in your life? Have you defined it clearly and deliberately? If so, have you clearly defined a plan for how to have what you want in your life? The first step in creating time freedom is deciding exactly what you want. This step is often overlooked or not given it’s due because we don’t have the time. STEP 1: Clearly define what you want in your life. If we don’t clearly define exactly what we want, how will we know when we have it? When we don’t know what we want, the tendency is to spend our time doing things that are not bringing us what we want. For help with the question “What do I REALLY want?” go to www.BeDoHaveMore.com/booksreports.html and download the Special Report "You Can Decide - What Do I REALLY Want?" This free Special Report provides an extensive questionnaire and an in-depth look at getting really clear about what you want. Once you've created your list of what you want in your life, re-order the list by priority so it is very clear what you want the most. Some things may be very important life-time endeavors while others may be it-would-be-nice-if things that you want to be, do or have but that you don't consider as important. Ordering your list by priority and then reviewing where you spend your time and attention can be very revealing. Often, although we say something is important to us (i.e. family and relationships), the attention we give it doesn’t measure up to the importance we assign to it. When your time and attention are allocated based on what you decide is really important rather than the daily “fires” we can spend our lives putting out, it will feel as though hours have been added to your days. When your days are spent on things that you deem less important, it feels like time is slipping away even faster. In Part 2 of this four part series, we’ll discuss creating a plan from this list.