Almost daily someone asks me “How do you find the time to exercise daily?”
They ask me this about meditation and writing and publishing to my blog. Flying trapeze and trampoline practice. When I took up standup comedy earlier this year people asked where I found the time for it.
My response: with a flashlight and magnifying glass.
Kidding.
The answer is that I don’t “find” the time. I create it. And I protect it with my life because it fuels my life. I know how easy it is for things to get in the way of it.
Over the last few weeks I held coaching sessions with several entrepreneurs who came to me for help with creating better morning rituals. They wanted to exercise more or create better consistency.
What was in the way of their establishing consistent morning practices?
Stories.
When I start my new business I’ll have a more predictable schedule.
When the kids go back to school I’ll have more time for myself.
When this project is finished I’ll get back to my routine.
We are always waiting for something.
It will get better after this thing. It will calm down after that event. After I get through X I’ll have space.
I recently completed a 10-month coach training program. Almost weekly for 10 months, I created space for a 90-minute training call and a coaching buddy practice call that lasted anywhere from 1–2.5 hours.
That’s at least 3 hours a week that I was able to carve out of my schedule to devote to this project. It would be nice to have those hours to work on my next project.
As soon as the program ended, other things quickly filled those hours.
Something always comes up to fill the space.
Always.
One reason that I am rigorous in protecting my daily rituals is that my morning time reminds me that I have the power to create time for what’s important to me.
This forces me to get out of the “I don’t have the time” excuse for other projects and face what’s really at issue:
Fears. Limiting beliefs. Mindsets. Stories.
All hidden behind “I don’t have time” or “I’ll do it when I’m out of this chaos.”
Here’s what I’ve learned: the chaos doesn’t end, because it comes from within.
Our challenge is not in waiting for the chaos to end; it is in learning how to be in the chaos and still move forward.
You will never find the time. Time isn’t waiting at the lost and found. The only way to get the time is to create the time.
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