3 Things You Need to Stop Saying ASAP
Our words are powerful! How we speak about ourselves, others, and our circumstances sets the tone for our lives and ultimately shapes our reality. I frequently hear 3 phrases spill out of people's mouths that I think are holding them back. All 3 of these things have something in common - taking ownership of your time so you can be a good steward of your energy.
In this post, I'm sharing the 3 things that you are saying that could be holding you back.
01. “I don’t have time.”
When I hear this, what I really hear is, “I’m not clear on my priorities.” I mean sorry not sorry - y’all know I love you but also keep it real around here.
The reason why saying you don’t have time for something is holding you back is because that dampens your perspective of the time you do have. When we say things like, “I don’t have time” we are creating narratives in our mind, whether we realize it or not, that we have to cram things into our day, weeks, and months into these perfect little time blocks. Life doesn’t work that way and saying this causes us to view time as something we have to race.
Instead of saying you don’t have time for something, try saying: “That’s not a priority to me right now and/or in this season.”
AND BE OKAY WITH THAT. I say this often in the Hustle Sanely Program - we are the gatekeepers of our time and energy. We decide how we spend our time. Even if you have to share some of it with others - you ultimately still get to decide how you spend your time. Take ownership, girl. Don’t play victim in your own life, do you hear me? You are equipped for what you’re called to do so rise up and do it.
Protect your perception of time because time should be cherished not resented. How you speak about time is how you’re going to view time.
When we establish habits and create routines, we are taking ownership of our time and being good stewards of our energy.
Your takeaway here - stop saying you don’t have time for stuff. It’s damaging your perception of time being a gift rather than something to be raced against. Get clear on your vision and define your priorities that align with that vision and if something doesn’t fit, say it’s not a priority rather than you don’t have time.
02. “Someday.”
When you say you’re going to do something someday, you’re basically saying you hope it happens but you’re not really sure. In the Dream It. Do It. Workshop, I talk about the “someday” trap - it’s when we have these big dreams but we don’t create a plan of action to work toward them.
We continue leaning on “someday” as a crutch instead of taking action where we’re at. Let me tell you something I’ve learned over the last few years - saying “someday” gets you nowhere.
I was praying the other day and Jesus put something on my heart that I want to share with you - and honestly this rings true for people who don’t follow Jesus too so don’t tune this out:
Serve who is right in front of you. Perfection - waiting for the “right” time to take action - doesn’t make an impact. The time to serve is always right now.
LIKE O FREAKING KAY. A FREAKING MEN.
I’m one of those people who, and this is embarrassing to admit, doesn’t take as much social action as I’d like. I tend to feel paralyzed because I don’t know what cause to get behind or which organization to support. I want the perfect opportunity to present itself to me before I take action.
When talking about volunteering, I would always say, “Oh yeah, someday I’m going to get involved with an organization and give them my time and energy.”
So again, I decided to step up to the plate, stop using “someday” as an excuse keeping me from the person I really want to be, and I signed up to volunteer at a local organization here in Tampa that helps care for minors who have been victims of sex trafficking.
I challenge you to retire “someday” from your vocabulary for a bit. Replace it with action. Even small steps forward, keep you from falling into the someday trap. Because lots of small action over time gets you where you wanna go.
And if the thing you’re saying really is a “someday” thing, as in, it’s not that important to you right now, then that's fine! But own that. If you are serious about the thing you want to do, sit down, make a plan, then get up and take a step, okay?
03. “I have to do this right now.”
OH GIRL I could talk about this for an entire episode and honestly maybe I will later this year if you want me to but when you drop everything all the time to do every other little thing that is brought to your attention in the moment - i.e. you are making everything an emergency - you are not honoring your time or stewarding your energy well which means you are not giving yourself the chance to show up as your best.
When you live as though every single situation is a fire that needs to be handled right then and there, you are living in reaction mode. To me, living this way is not being thoughtful or kind or helpful because you are probably stretching yourself thin and on the brink of burn out.
It’s so tempting to be side tracked by tasks that you think need to be done in the moment because you can check them off and not have them lingering over you but this is when discipline comes into play. It’s our responsibility to give our best time and energy to the most important tasks each day. When you allow yourself to be sidetracked by tasks that actually aren’t priorities or don’t need to be done right now, you’re robbing the actual important tasks of being done well, make sense? You end up rushing through the important stuff because the unimportant stuff stole your time and energy.
If something is not time sensitive, as in everyone and everything will be okay if you don’t do it right this second, then girl, don’t let it derail what IS truly time sensitive for that day.
You don’t have to cram everything onto your task list in one day.
And if someone asks you to do something last minute and it’s honestly just not a possibility unless you sacrifice your important tasks for the day remember that poor planning on their end does not constitute an emergency on your end. I’ve heard that quote a lot and it’s so true. This is not being selfish, it’s holding other people accountable to 1) be good stewards of their own time and energy and 2) to respect the time and energy of others.
When you lay down your true priorities and allow any and everything to be an emergency, you are getting in your own way because you are allowing your peace to be disrupted which prevents you from showing up as your best in all situations.
If you enjoyed this post, tune into episode 068 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to listen into this topic!
