Master Your Emotions, Master Time…
I don’t know about you, but when the clocks go back and we gain an hour I feel more positive. I have been given a ‘gift’ of time with permission to luxuriate, however I please, with this extra hour – what a treat!
This got me thinking about how feelings and time are inter-connected – our feelings have an impact on our perception of time; and time has an impact on how we feel and behave.
For example, when we are feeling impatient waiting for something – the reply to an email, the results of a test or even the kettle to boil, time seems to go by slowly. In contrast, when we are feeling anxious due to a deadline looming or we’ve left something to the last minute, time seems to fly by. The passage of time remains the same and yet our perception of it differs.
Similarly, the amount of time available affects how we feel. For example, when we are time poor, it intensifies our feelings – we may feel more anxious (even panicky) and conversely, when we have lots of time we may feel bored or demotivated.
For many, time seems to be scarce resource, with limited capacity to do everything we would like to as well as being a source of stress and anxiety that in turn can lessen the amount of time we perceive we have – a vicious cycle!
So how can we make each minute count and optimise our capacity?
The key is to create an optimal emotional state where our energy is being laser focussed on an activity without distraction – either from external distractions like emails, notifications, interruptions etc or internal distractions from emotions like resistance, boredom or anxiety.
This optimal emotional state, often referred to as the ‘flow state’ or being ‘in the zone’ actually changes how we perceive and interact with time.
In this state, you are so absorbed by the activity, you have a heightened state of awareness enabling you to observe what’s going on in slow motion, effectively ‘slowing down time’. Professional sportspeople describe being able to see the slightest physical movement in their opponent, or precise direction of a ball, to inform how they position themselves and respond.
Here is a link to an article about being in flow, together with tips for getting into it.
And finally…
Have you noticed how time (along with money) is so often the excuse given for not doing something. Whilst time is a consideration, particularly in the short term, if something was important enough you would find the time to do it. If you don’t feel you have the time it’s more than likely a sign that you just don’t feel it’s important enough.
Here is a great exercise to reflect on your current ‘to do list’ to ensure you are focussing your energies on what’s important to YOUR goals, not just what’s urgent or important to others.
I hope this inspires you to use your emotions to guide you to use your time optimally and achieve the best results. Please share these ideas with others if you think it might help.
And if you need more inspiration, support or you’d like a sounding board, do get in touch with me at [email protected].
Until next time…have fun in flow!