We don't need more time, but better decisions

We don't need more time, but better decisions

Although each of us has 1,440 minutes every day and 168 hours every week without distinction, more and more people nowadays seem to have no time left. Why is that?

There is no time

First of all, the statement that we have no time for any of us is correct. In the scientific sense there is no time at all. Einstein has already let us know that. Time is not a "thing" you can have. It is nothing material that one can hoard or "save" as property somewhere. It was not until the late Middle Ages that people began to divide the change of day and night and the seasons into small units and invented the clock.

Wrong plan

We don't have a time problem, we have a decision problem. We take on certain tasks and for their completion we need a certain number of minutes and hours. If we now get into "time trouble", it only means that we have planned too many tasks for this day or that month. It is not time that has run out, but we have made the wrong decisions. Why do we do that?

Where do the many tasks come from?

We are constantly flooded with ideas from the media and the Internet, what we should do and don't do, what we should want, who we should be and what we should acquire - and of course in the fastest possible way. The feeling of missing something if we don't follow all this is imperceptible. So we need the perfect lifestyle, the perfect body, the perfect things and the big success. Only when we have achieved this,  we can be happy. With it we postpone our happiness to the future, miss the present, rather write a few more tasks in our to-do list and feel rushed.

Others set our agenda

At the same time, more and more requirements from other people are coming our way. Every day, the mailbox refills, WhatsApp, Messenger Messages, Facebook and Instagram postings scream for our attention and demand our response. Everyone wants something from us. And because we are part of it, we want to be noticed and loved, we get involved. We get engaged and spend a lot of time living according to other people's agendas.

Liberation stroke and practical tips

How do we get out of this mess? By recognizing that it is our own decisions that create the stress. No, we are not at the mercy. And yes, we can have control over our situation.

• Let's decide to be happy now - with what we have and what we are. Then we choose our next projects and tasks much more relaxed - without pressure and misery. Our happiness no longer depends on it.
• Let's reduce our information channels and the time we spend on them. We won't be distracted as often and flooded with ideas that have nothing to do with our current situation.
• If we stop "surfing" on the Internet, we begin to search specifically. Before we click, we ask ourselves: What exactly am I looking for? Let us not be tempted to click on links that have nothing to do with our search.
• If another person wants something from us, we ask ourselves before an answer:
• Does she or he really need help or is she just too comfortable to do the job herself?
• Why does she or he want my attention? Is it just about ego care or a meaningful concern? Is she or he bored?
• Am I the right contact person at all?
• We assign each task a certain period of time in our calendar. Tasks that are only on to-do lists and not in the calendar are rarely completed.

Let's keep in mind that we don't have too little time. Each of us have 24 hours a day.

Starting today, let's carefully choose what we use them for.