All The Time in The World

Change your language to change your sense of time.

We don’t control time. 

Much as we might love to, or even think we can or do! 

Accepting the concept can free you up. Time is not controllable. It’s a construct that set up to pace our lives, moving us from one day to the next, giving us distinction between moments. 

It’s a constantly moving measure, not something to be moulded. 

Where the power lies, is in knowing that we can do things within that construct; we can control our activity and allocate the measure of time to those activities. 

It’s a subtle yet profound difference. 

We have the power to wield time. And yet, most of us let time wield us. 

Think about it – How often do you actively say: 

 “I don’t have time for that” 

or “that will take too much time” 

or “I can’t afford the time”. 

 Time is literally a currency in that last one. 

Messages like this are debilitating us. Because most of us say it with lament. Most of us say it as if time is the thief. Most of us speak about Time as if it’s the powerful overlord of us. All these impact our state, our emotions and our well being. 

What we’re really saying is that we want something we have a desire, but we don’t have capacity to fulfil that desire in the timeframe that we want. And so we make time the thief. Speaking about time in this way erodes our sense of possibility. It limits us. 

When we say things like that (and we all do), what we’re really saying is there are things I want to do. And these are things that I want to do more than those I have to do. 

This week I invite you to get conscious and then honest about how you let the concept of time play with you – and how you instead can play with time. 

The way you think about time and the way you speak about time is what has the power. Take charge of your language to experience a difference. 

Something different to try is to listen to and catch yourself when speaking of time, and ‘adjust’ it if you don’t like the feeling it creates. 

Here are some shifts you can try:  

• “I have all the time in the world” 

• “Things take as long as they take” 

• “There is no rush” 

• “I can do that, but not until Wednesday” (a variant: I can do that, and have enough time to do it well on Wednesday onwards) 

You get the idea; what unites all of these is possibility and being in control of the effect of time on you, through language. 

Try it for a day or a week and see where that gets you. Let me know how you get on. Let me know which one works best for you.