You have 24 hours in the day. Let’s say, out of those 24 hours, you spend 16 of them awake. Stop for a moment and think about those 16 hours.
How did you spend your time?
What did you do?
Can you account for every hour?
Are there blocks of time where you can’t recount what you did?
There are so many people who allow their days to slip by without really knowing how their time is being spent. And a lot of people live in this mindset that there “just aren’t enough hours in the day.”
Well, there are enough hours in the day, if you are spending them correctly.
You just need to learn how to be more intentional with your time.
It is hard to be intentional with your time and how you are spending your time each and every day. If you want to be more intentional with your time, there are a few Zenful habits that you can start adapting that will help you start being more accountable for your time so you can spend it more intentionally.
Get in the Habit of Telling Yourself You Have Enough Time
If you want to spend time more intentionally with the time that you have, then you need to get in the right mindset. This means you need to stop telling yourself you’re too bust and you don’t have enough time.
Every time you hear yourself think or say “there aren’t enough hours in the day” or “I don’t have enough time.” Just stop and think about what you are really doing.
Everyone is busy. Everyone has things going on. And you have just as many hours in the day to work with as everyone else on the planet.
When you complain that you don’t have enough time you are not taking ownership of your life and how you are choosing to spend your time.
So, instead of getting stressed about a lack of time, start every day by telling yourself “I have more than enough time to get everything done.” You will be surprised how shifting your mindset in this way can help you in the end.
Start Small And Work Your Way Up
It would be great if you could just flip a switch and start living your life with more intention. However, it isn’t ever that easy. You have gotten yourself into a habit of being unintentional with your time, and just like any other habit—it will take some effort to break it.
With this in mind, you want to start small when it comes to changing your intentions with your time. Choose a small block of time during the day, just 30 minutes at a time, and practice being more intentional with how you spend that 30 minutes.
Here’s an exercise to help you practice. Start by asking yourself a few questions.
What is the most important thing you could do with 30 minutes of your time?
If you could only get one thing accomplished during your day, and it takes just 30 minutes—what would it be?
Then pick one activity that you think would be the best way to spend your 30 minutes. Perhaps it is meditating, exercising, writing or working on a side hustle job.
No matter what that activity is, set up 30 minutes at the beginning of your morning where you just do that activity you are passionate about—and nothing else. Do this before you start doing anything else (even checking emails) and when you are there focus on being as present and as mindful as possible during that 30 minutes.
After you get in a habit of doing this for 30 minutes at a time, you can start building up to spend time more intentionally for longer stretches of time, and more intentional for more blocks of time during the day. Eventually, you can expand into an entire intentional day.
If you want to keep track of your progress, then at the end of the day, make sure that you are journaling and reviewing your day and how you spent all of your time during the day to help keep you focused.
Learn How to Say “No”
This is one habit that you can form that will completely change your life for the better. If you can say “no” to things that aren’t important to you, it will help reorganize the time you have for the day, and allow you to be more intentional with the time that you have.
When you aren’t spending a majority of your time doing things that you don’t want to do, you are giving yourself more sacred time during the day where you can be more deliberate with your heart and fully devoted to the activity.
As you practice being fully devoted to your time or to a certain activity, and you learn how to say “no” to the things that will get in the way of that devoted time and attention—it will only help you stay focused and help make sure you are only spending time on things that are the most important to you.
So, next time you are spending your time intentionally at your office and someone interrupts you and asks you to take a coffee break. Just say “no.” It will help you stay fully committed and intentional with the time you have.
Now that you have a better idea of what you can do to live a more Zenful life and how you can spend time more intentionally—there is no better time to start implementing these habits into your everyday life.
When you are more intentional with your time, you will find you are more productive, less stressed and chaotic and that you are able to get more out of the time that you have during the day. Just remember to be consistent with these little actions so they really become habits that you can use to improve your life for the better.
Zenful Habits to Help You Spend Time More Intentionally
How do you spend time more intentionally ?
You have 24 hours in the day. Let’s say, out of those 24 hours, you spend 16 of them awake. Stop for a moment and think about those 16 hours.
How did you spend your time?
What did you do?
Can you account for every hour?
Are there blocks of time where you can’t recount what you did?
There are so many people who allow their days to slip by without really knowing how their time is being spent. And a lot of people live in this mindset that there “just aren’t enough hours in the day.”
Well, there are enough hours in the day, if you are spending them correctly.
You just need to learn how to be more intentional with your time.
It is hard to be intentional with your time and how you are spending your time each and every day. If you want to be more intentional with your time, there are a few Zenful habits that you can start adapting that will help you start being more accountable for your time so you can spend it more intentionally.
Get in the Habit of Telling Yourself You Have Enough Time
If you want to spend time more intentionally with the time that you have, then you need to get in the right mindset. This means you need to stop telling yourself you’re too bust and you don’t have enough time.
Every time you hear yourself think or say “there aren’t enough hours in the day” or “I don’t have enough time.” Just stop and think about what you are really doing.
Everyone is busy. Everyone has things going on. And you have just as many hours in the day to work with as everyone else on the planet.
When you complain that you don’t have enough time you are not taking ownership of your life and how you are choosing to spend your time.
So, instead of getting stressed about a lack of time, start every day by telling yourself “I have more than enough time to get everything done.” You will be surprised how shifting your mindset in this way can help you in the end.
Start Small And Work Your Way Up
It would be great if you could just flip a switch and start living your life with more intention. However, it isn’t ever that easy. You have gotten yourself into a habit of being unintentional with your time, and just like any other habit—it will take some effort to break it.
With this in mind, you want to start small when it comes to changing your intentions with your time. Choose a small block of time during the day, just 30 minutes at a time, and practice being more intentional with how you spend that 30 minutes.
Here’s an exercise to help you practice. Start by asking yourself a few questions.
Then pick one activity that you think would be the best way to spend your 30 minutes. Perhaps it is meditating, exercising, writing or working on a side hustle job.
No matter what that activity is, set up 30 minutes at the beginning of your morning where you just do that activity you are passionate about—and nothing else. Do this before you start doing anything else (even checking emails) and when you are there focus on being as present and as mindful as possible during that 30 minutes.
After you get in a habit of doing this for 30 minutes at a time, you can start building up to spend time more intentionally for longer stretches of time, and more intentional for more blocks of time during the day. Eventually, you can expand into an entire intentional day.
If you want to keep track of your progress, then at the end of the day, make sure that you are journaling and reviewing your day and how you spent all of your time during the day to help keep you focused.
Learn How to Say “No”
This is one habit that you can form that will completely change your life for the better. If you can say “no” to things that aren’t important to you, it will help reorganize the time you have for the day, and allow you to be more intentional with the time that you have.
When you aren’t spending a majority of your time doing things that you don’t want to do, you are giving yourself more sacred time during the day where you can be more deliberate with your heart and fully devoted to the activity.
As you practice being fully devoted to your time or to a certain activity, and you learn how to say “no” to the things that will get in the way of that devoted time and attention—it will only help you stay focused and help make sure you are only spending time on things that are the most important to you.
So, next time you are spending your time intentionally at your office and someone interrupts you and asks you to take a coffee break. Just say “no.” It will help you stay fully committed and intentional with the time you have.
Now that you have a better idea of what you can do to live a more Zenful life and how you can spend time more intentionally—there is no better time to start implementing these habits into your everyday life.
When you are more intentional with your time, you will find you are more productive, less stressed and chaotic and that you are able to get more out of the time that you have during the day. Just remember to be consistent with these little actions so they really become habits that you can use to improve your life for the better.
Dhaval Patel
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