No, this isn’t about writing lists and doing the toughest stuff first.
Speed reading to get more in.
It’s about everything you do that stops you being the best version of yourself here and now.
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” - Marcus Aurelius.
It’s time to treat our time as a gift and not waste it on the trivial and vain.
It sounds morbid, heavy and profound but in the back of our minds, we need to always, always remember this.
Why?
Because of this phrase ‘memento mori’. It is a Latin phrase meaning 'remember you must die'.
And the sooner you embrace this, the sooner you stop wasting time.
When you’re young you just think it’s old people whittling on. They’ve lost their youth, they’re patronising, what do they know? I’ll live forever. That’s why I’ll get fit one day, stop taking coke when I’m older, I’ll stop worrying one day, yeah yeah I’ll get round to it.
Then you get older and worry about where the time’s gone. Have you made the best use of it? The end’s coming?
All self-impositions, stresses, worries and anxieties.
And here’s another one.
You look to the left of you and to the right and you feel everyone has done better than you. Comparison is the thief of joy. (So get off social media now!)
You’re just wasting time.
Enter Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and hypnosis
Hypnosis is a wonderful way to make new behaviours instinctive, to help you identify the 'time sinks' in your life and give you powerful strategies to stop yourself falling into them.
Combined with Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy you’ll find:
- You become very clear about what (or who) is 'stealing' your time
- You’re much more aware of the real difference between 'satisfying' and 'pointless' activities
- You start to develop a solid plan for what you will do differently
- You find you naturally making better choices in what you do with your time
- You feel much more in control of your life.
There are only 24 hours in the day, and you have to spend 8 or so of those hours sleeping, so there are really only 16 hours in the day when you can get anything done.
You can do a lot in 16 hours. Providing you don't throw away your energy doing things that have more negative than positive effects that’s what the focus is on.
Why? You don’t want to get drawn into doing things that neither satisfy nor bear useful fruit. It can be hard to stop doing them when it's become a habit, but CBT and hypnosis are great ways to establish a new approach and escape the time thieves.
And when you’re calm and relaxed hypnotic rehearsal allows you visualise what you have to do to find more real satisfaction on the one hand, and freedom from unconscious time wasting on the other (this is the habit you’ve fallen into).
When people talk about productivity, they usually mean not wasting time and getting stuff done. But true use of time and productivity is about so much more than this.
It’s about finding clarity about who you are, what’s important to you and how you can go about achieving your goals. It’s also important to recognise that your goals aren’t going to be the same the next person’s.
Your goals are representative of who you truly are and what your life is about. Many of us get tied up in knots trying to figure out what they actually want from life. This is when anxiety, procrastination and stagnation creep in and grow like poison ivy.
Trust yourself
And here’s another role for hypnosis to play. Giving you confidence.
Before you can really be productive, you need to know the difference between what you want, versus what other people or society thinks you should want.
When people get caught up in time-wasting, usually it’s because there’s a mismatch somewhere. What you think you want, or should want and who you really are.
In other words, what will make you truly happy? Why? Because then you’ll be doing it for yourself, not for anybody else.
Once you’ve gained clarity of purpose you will easily see what stands in the way and what hypnosis has to work on.
For example:
- Recognising and overcoming self-sabotaging triggers
- Gaining more confidence in your ability to achieve your goals
- Improving your productivity at every level. Get the best out of your time.
To sum up, working together we can look to make the most of your time.
Who am I to talk?
I spent years wasting my time. Drinking too much. Eating too much. Worked in jobs I hated. So I hated myself. Drank more. Ate more. Until I stopped. Dropped eight stone. No booze, tea or coffee for three years.
In effect, I stopped hiding from myself.
I’m James Thomas, a Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist.
If you feel you’re running out of time, get in touch with me at jamesthomas@thegentlemind.co.uk or call 07787563099.
