You have no time to …………[fill in the blank]

• Work out
• Start an online business
• Take your kid to another extracurricular class
• Take up knitting

It’s the biggest excuse of all time. But, if you look closer, it’s one that has all different layers of meaning.

First of all, you’ve probably heard it before, but typically the “I don’t have time excuse” really just means “it’s not a priority.” You just don’t want to come out and say that, because it’s much less confronting to say “I don’t have time to come to your home jewelry party” than “I think that party is a waste of my time.”

If exercise was actually a priority, you would find the time, just like you find the time to meet with your boss because she’s a priority. There are a million things I could get done in the mornings instead of working out, but it’s important to me to get my exercise in then, so I do it.

K, so now that we’ve got that out of the way, what if you feel like you really don’t have time? Let’s dig around a little and find some for you.

1. Lunch breaks: you can change your life on your lunch break. 30 minute increments are enough time to make headway toward any goal in your life. Learn a language, do a workout, build your website, write a blog post (ahem!), take a course…I could go on. And in fact, changing your life on your lunch break will probably become a new feature on this blog, I love it so much. Don’t just sit at your desk scrolling through Facebook or daydreaming. Get up and hustle for your goals for those precious 30 minutes. Over time, these repeated activities are going to compound into major traction.
2. After kids are in bed: I would never want you to sacrifice your sacred time with your family for anything. They are likely the reason you do everything you do. But there is a sweet spot right after the kids go to bed and before you go to bed that you can use to manufacture your dreams. If you sit down and do a Power Hour every night, you will be leagues ahead of everyone in a month or two.
3. Involve the kids: some of the things you’re working on might make your time with your kids even richer. If your goal is to exercise 5 days per week, take a family bike ride or jump rope together. If you want to make more biz videos for your Youtube Channel, turn the whole thing into a learning experience by turning your kids into little producers and film crews. If they’re interested, you may even have them create their own channels and do films for them too. The entire process from getting the right lighting to editing is educational and will likely give them a huge educational advantage.
4. TV Time: I have always said and will always say, if you have time to watch TV, you have time to change your life. Period.
5. Waiting in the car or in lines: there are quite a few things you can do while you’re waiting in your car for school to get our or standing in line at the store. Post something inspirational to your Facebook biz group. Record an audio for your online course. Catch up on some self development reading. Get out of your car and do a HIIT interval. Do deep breathing meditation. Use those few minutes to really LIVE those moments instead of passively letting them slip away.
6. Commute: I would never recommend anything dangerous, but you can certainly get things done while driving, like listening to self-development podcasts or sermons. If you’re not the one driving, you can certainly do all kinds of things like knitting projects, sketching designs, reading, learning a new skill, etc.
7. Find 10 minutes here and there: Even if you can’t string an entire half hour together to squeeze in a workout, you should certainly be able to find three 10-minute segments to give you just as good of results. You can easily do all kinds of social media work in 10 minutes or comment on 3-4 blogs to build relationships. You could write an introduction to the book you’re going to write and then write a paragraph here and there. If you want something bad enough, you will use these little time segments to your full advantage!!!

So, come on, be honest, there are times throughout your day when you are truly just sort of puttering about, aren’t there? If you are really serious about your goals, you will reclaim that time for your own self-advancement.

But hey, if your kid really doesn’t want to go to annnnnnother club meeting, no one’s going to stop you if you say “We don’t have time for that.” But if you tell me, “I don’t have time to work out,” I will likely raise my brow, signaling that I’m reading right through that.

Where do you think you could harvest some time for your goals?