Ok, so now back to my request that you do this project by the end of the month. Many people can’t say if they can do that or not.  When you’re out of money you start bouncing checks. However with time, we have some crazy notion that we can keep squeezing things in. Now what might naturally come next is an entire training on how to deal with your calendar. Yes I could, but I’m not going to go there today.  

So Gina – WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT OUR CRAZINESS AROUND TIME? I have really in depth coaching for you here: Just Stop It. Some of you may remember the famous Bob Newhart scene where he’s advising his therapy client telling her to Just STOP IT. Really thought, just Stop your craziness. 

I know it’s not quite that easy. Why? Because for many people, your environment (the people around you, the circumstances around you, the situations you find yourself in) are very USED TO you trying to put 20 pounds of manure into a 10 pound bag. They may be accustomed to you working your butt off and being overwhelmed. They think, that’s just how you are. And some of you are paying the overdraft fees for being that kind of martyr or saint or hero in your environment. (That might be a bad news insight.) 

So now what? You get to choose, and design your precious life (your precious 168 hours each week) in a way that honors YOU. You. You. You. Now – Is that selfish? No! 

Here is what is selfish – letting yourself get run into the ground, and having people worry about you, or feel bad for you, or hope that one day they will get to have a relaxed and fun conversation with you. If you want to be a real contribution to the people around you, and make the difference you’re really out to make with your business and in the world, then TAKE CARE of YOUR Self.

If you design the minutes of your precious life in a way that honors YOU, then people will really get the BEST version of you. Do you notice that when you’re not overwhelmed, you’re lovely to be with? You’re a joy. You’re present. Do you notice that when you’re not overwhelmed the work you do, is GREAT work? And even when you do work really hard one day or one week, you’re TOTALLY satisfied and fulfilled and proud. That’s what can happen when you stop electing to try to get 20 pounds of You Know What in a 10 pound bag. 

You may be saying to yourself, “Yes, of course Gina, my CALENDAR IS clearly my check register for Time. Duh. That’s where I would look to see if I had time for that project.” I know some of you have amazing calendars. Online. Color coded. Filters that can be turned on and off. Or appointments are “tagged” for different codings. You’re able to flip from family calendar to work calendar easily. Synchs with your phone. You might in fact have the best calendar ever!!

And yet, so many people don’t feel they have the BALANCE in their life that they want. Somehow the use of their time is NOT under their control in the way their money is.

So we overspend on Time (BEYOND what is in our Time account) and there are consequences and OVERDRAFT fees that come with your Time account. Overdraft fees such as – issues with your health issues in your relationships with your friends and family. That overdraft fee may show up as a lack of joy; lack of productivity; loss of love for what you are doing. You may be getting overdraft fee after overdraft fee and it looks like anxiety, frustration, annoyance, high blood pressure. If that’s the case, You have overdrawn on your Time Account. You’re attempting to live beyond your means. You’re trying to turn your 24 hours per day that you’ve been given into MORE somehow. You’re trying to squeeze more in.

We are Crazy! You got what you got, in terms of time. You got what we ALL got.

Let me pause here and stop talking for a minute and see if anyone would be willing to share any INSIGHTS they may be having, or something they may be realizing or noticing, or an Ah-Haaaaaa. Who would be courageous enough to any ideas/ insights/ thoughts/ notions about THEMSELVES that they are getting at this point.

The point here is to get that you’re SPENDING. You know, you talk to your kids about spending money. You maybe talk to them about overspending or “living within their means”. Or maybe you are having these same discussions with your spouse or partner. We’re pretty conscientious about SPENDING money. 

But we’re funny when it comes to spending this thing called TIME. Budgeting money and budgeting time are practically the same thing, but people don’t deal with it as the same. Somehow we will give away our TIME away in a way that we would never do with our MONEY. We could go into the “why” or the “psychology” of all that, but we won’t. For now we just want to NOTICE this strange behavior that sometimes happens. Sometimes we give away, or throw away, or let someone have our TIME, in a way we NEVER would if it was our money. We wouldn’t give away, or throw away, or let someone have our money in that way.

See, if I ask you if you want to buy my car for $10,000, and you are on top of your bank accounts and budgets, you will know if you are able to buy my car for $10,000 or not, and what, if any impact, it might have on YOU to buy that car. That’s pretty clear for you because money is FINITE for us. There’s an EXACT amount of money in your checking account right now and it is in fact that exact amount. It’s not maybe more or maybe less.

So the money you have is a finite thing. Now let’s talk more about TIME. So my scenario was about spending money on a car. Now let’s look at a scenario about spending TIME (not money).

Instead of asking you if you want to buy my car for $10,000 dollars, I’m going to ask you can get a project done. For example, “Could you please do this project by the end of the month?” Many people will say “Yes. Sure. I can fit that in.” Most people do not have a good CHECK REGISTER for their time. They most likely don’t have a register to look at, and clearly see how much time is in their Time Account, to then determine if they DO INFACT have enough time (in their time account) to SPEND doing this project, which is due by the end of the month. So then we say something in response, which is a little CRAZY like, “Ya, sure I’ll fit that in. You betcha,” without looking at, or consulting our TIME ACCOUNT Balance first. 

While we all woke up today with different amounts of money in our checking accounts, we all woke up with the SAME AMOUNT of time. It’s not like I get a 32 hours in a day and you get 20 hours in a day, and you get 35. You, like everybody else, get 24 hours in a day, and you get 7 days in a week. So 24 hours in a day. 7 days in a week. That’s 168 hours a week. That is how much is in your Time Account. 

As you spend that time, you don’t ever get any of the minutes that have passed, back. So the last hour of today has passed and there is no getting it back. Unlike money, there are no refunds of Time. You don’t get any time back. 

What I love about Money is that you can always make more. Sometimes I say to myself, “There’s always money to be made Gina! If worse comes to worse, I’ll just go wash windows.” Now, I have some strong preferences about HOW I go about making money. I’d rather not go wash windows, but there is ALWAYS money to be made.

However, you cannot make time. Now you could use money to buy time, and people who want to spend money to buy themselves more time in the day, well, I call those people prospects (in my business). 

I want you to start to hear the phrase SPENDING TIME in the same way you hear the phrase SPENDING MONEY.  There’s some real power or awakening that comes with starting to relate to time like it’s something you are SPENDING. It is getting Spent. When you start to related to Time like something that gets Spent or Invested, new ideas or insights may start to appear for you. 

Comment below telling us 2 things: Tell us 1 thing you spent money on in the last 24 hours, and 1 thing you spent time on the last 24 hours. (Groceries & writing agenda slide) It will sound like:  “I spent money on groceries. I spent time writing an agenda.” Or “I spent money on a new lamp. I spent time reading emails.” 

Ok, well, as odd as it may seem, I’m going to give you a new way to think about Time by talking about MONEY.  Unlike Money, Time is something you cannot make more of. I’ll probably say that 3 more times today. 

You all have different amounts of money in your checking account right now. And there is an EXACT amount of money in your checking account. An EXACT amount, after which, if you keep spending, you will be overdrawn. After that last penny leaves the account, you will start incurring fees. That’s how money works. Super simple.