The Fantasy That Blinds Us

“We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves.”
–George Matthew Adams, author

In This Issue:

The Fantasy That Blinds Us
By Krista Jones

“You’ll never have more time.”

Ahhh…wise words spoken by a friend (DF if you’re reading this, it’s you) a couple of years back. She made the comment after she heard Monica and me talking about all the things we were going to do over the next several months.

Monica and I thought after we returned from bootcamp and finished this and that project, we would have time for our joint business goals.

Unfortunately, it took more than a year for me to figure out that we were just fooling ourselves. (For being an educated woman, sometimes I can be a really slow learner!)

Here’s how it would generally play out…

I would map out all of my projects for a month to six weeks. Whenever there was a small window in my schedule, I’d pencil in one of our business plans. But as the window would approach, something else almost always came up—whether it was a client calling with a new assignment or a friend or relative coming down for a visit.

Of course, I could have turned down the assignment. Or I could have gotten up earlier or stayed up later to work while my company was visiting.

But I didn’t. Since making plans for our business wasn’t a “real” project with a “real’ deadline, I’d put it on hold for a bit longer. Then I would justify my decision by telling myself, “I’ll get to it as soon as I’m done with this.”

All the while, DF’s words kept running through the back of my mind. And then, a couple of months ago I finally decided to take a closer look at what was really going on.

I started by evaluating whether I was being unrealistic in my expectations…if I was putting too much on my plate at one time.

Yep, there was some of that happening. But there was also a deeper issue going on.

The truth of the matter was I wasn’t making my business goals with Monica a high enough priority. And the question I needed to answer was why?

It took a good deal of thought, but here’s what I cam up with: I wasn’t accepting all of those assignments because I needed the money. And I wasn’t skimping on the time I put in when people were visiting because I needed a break.

No, as much as I hate to admit it, I was scared! I was afraid of the unknown. Afraid of what would happen if I said no to a client. Afraid of failure.

That’s what was really keeping me from moving forward on our goals. My god, I didn’t need more time, I needed to get clear!

So I took some time to do just that. Once I finally got clear about my own personal vision, not surprisingly, I started getting stuff done. Not just on my business goals with Monica, but on my goals for another business venture.

Suddenly time was no longer an issue.

Which brings me to you.

If you’ve been telling yourself over and over again that you’ll get certain things done when you have more time, maybe it’s time to get real with yourself.

You can start by re-considering the thing you want. Is it something that you’re really passionate about? Do you have subconscious thoughts that prevent you from acting on it? Is it the right time to pursue it?

If you answered yes to all of those questions, then accept right here and now that you’ll never have more time. Then, re-prioritize the things that are most important for you to get done each day.

After all, each of us is here for only a brief period. If we’re not using our time in a way that’s best for us, then we’re wasting the best of ourselves. Wouldn’t you agree?

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Copy Protégé Reader Feedback

In Issue #73, I gave you three tips for revising copy. Quickly they were:

  1. Do your revisions on a hard copy rather than on the computer screen.
  2. Save all your revisions.
  3. Pay attention to those emotional "pinpricks" that tell you something in your writing is off.

Scott B. wrote us with a good alternative if you don’t like working off of a hard copy. Here’s what Scott had to say:

“I really liked your suggestion about saving drafts; however, I might have a tip to actually do the work on the computer screen.

For me it is much easier to think while I am typing instead of writing things by hand. I constantly do re-writes and I do save all my previous drafts.

Once I have a type copy first draft, I save it and name it, i.e. television1. When I am ready to work on my next draft, I open up television1 and immediately save it as television2 then make the revisions. Then television3 and on and on.”

Thanks for sharing, Scott!