However, if you don’t feed time the right things, it will devour you from within. How much time do you spend deliberately stacking good habits? Are you feeding your distractions? Every activity, task or experience you use to pass time is either helping you become a better or worse version of yourself.
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you,” says Carl Sandburg.
Have you ever thought about what time could do for you? Everyone has different needs, motivations and circumstances that can either help or hinder their progress towards their goals. To achieve what you want in life, leverage time to your benefit.
The question of how you spend your time is critical in your personal and professional life. It’s not enough to live — you have to design how you spend time to make the most of it. You also must ensure you’re spending the right amount of time on the right things.
A little time spent designing better habits (what you repeat daily, week after week, month after month) can compound time in your favour. The key is to prioritise your time wisely to achieve a productive life.
Spending time well is a critical part of any successful life. How we spend our time greatly impacts how we feel, who we are becoming, and how productive we are in our daily lives.
Whether we’re spending our time at work or home, there are several ways to ensure you’re getting the most out of your day.
Your habits are either pulling to your best or worst future: choose wisely
“Ask yourself each day: If I only did 3 things today, what are the actions that will produce the greatest results in moving me closer to my big goals?” — Darren Hardy, the author of The Compound Effect.
How you spend your life how you value your time. Every minute you spend on something creates value that will possibly compound for you or depreciates your time worth. Choosing to invest time in good habits maximise your limited time.
To be successful in any area of your life, you frist need to figure out what you want, what brings out the best in you, what works for you, and what brings out the worst in you. This simple exercise will help you find out where your weaknesses lie so that you can focus your energy on those areas instead of trying to tackle everything at once. Once you know what works for you, it’s easy to build new habits that support your goals.
To figure out what works for you, take lots of notes about your daily habits and routines. Pay attention to things like when you have time off work and how much time you spend on your major habits — from how you wake up to your evening routine.
By consciously choosing to spend more time on specific good habits (starting your morning on purpose, exercising at a time that works for you, eating for your brain and mood, choosing your tasks carefully and taking downtime seriously), you can set yourself up for good habit stacking.
These simple habits can make a massive difference over time — as much as 80% in some studies. You’ll find that you’re more productive, organised, and reliable. You’ll have less stress and anxiety. You’ll have better relationships with people — both at work and outside of work.
“A daily routine built on good habits and disciplines separates the most successful among us from everyone else,” argues Hardy.
The compound effect of good habits can yield significant results. By being proactive instead of reactive, you’re more likely to achieve long-term goals and be more successful in life.
For example, if you want to lose weight, you could start by making a few small changes like eating healthier foods or exercising more often at the same time every week. These may not seem like much at first, but over time they can lead to lasting shifts in your lifestyle that can greatly impact your weight loss efforts.
The key to good habit stacking is focusing on small changes — stack better habits one at a time. Tiny actions over time have a greater impact than large, one-time efforts. A small behaviour change can bring about a cascade of effects. This can snowball into the outcome you expect.
While there’s no single silver bullet habit to change your life, small changes over time have greater impact over time. The secret is consistency — keep practicing until good habits become automatic and effortless.
When we constantly make small changes, we are more likely to see them stick. When we take small steps daily, they add up and create a big impact.
It is impossible to anticipate better outcomes without planting better seeds. You can only put time to work in your favour if you invest in specific behaviours and repeat them on purpose. If you are not getting the results you want or expect, change what you repeat daily.
Becoming a better version of yourself is a habit, and so is becoming the worst version of yourself. Invest your time wisely.
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This post was previously published on Thomas Oppong’s blog.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
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 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
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