There I was, 10pm on a regular weeknight, just about to put my head down to sleep when I thought I would check my Facebook feed one last time before heading off to sleep. With a few flicks of my finger on the screen of my phone, I was presented with a video I knew I shouldn’t watch, as it came from a entrepreneur I follow that is great at revving me up and inspiring me to do better or to do more with my life. I proceeded to click on the 18-minute long video anyway (VIDEO LINK), and settle in for some great inspirational content, as is so often the case. With my headphones attached and my 36-week pregnant wife lying asleep next to me, I was then a witness to what can only be described as one of the greatest rants I have ever heard from anyone in my life. Now, while this rant made me feel like I was back in the principal’s office in grade 5 and being told off for putting chewing gum in one of the popular girls hair, it also felt so passionate and 100% from the heart that in an instant I was awake and wasn’t going to get to sleep anytime soon.
It made me think, we are all far too quick to use time as the excuse to why we haven’t achieved what we want in life. It could be a weight loss goal, it could be starting a small business, or it could be as simple as starting a new skill like learning a new language. However, I put it to you, are we really that busy? Do we really have no time to be chasing the dreams we have always talked about doing?
I say no, we really aren’t and to use it as an excuse to why you haven’t achieved what you talk so often about is just plain lazy in and of itself.
Now, as I say this, I am saying it to myself as well. I am just as guilty if not more so than all of you reading this. I can’t tell you the amount of times I have tried to get myself to 9% body fat, or write a new article, or to even just put the dishes away and told myself “I don’t have time”. All the while knowing I am full of shit as I sit there and watch another episode of My Kitchen Rules, when I could have been putting time into any number of the above-mentioned activities.
Now I want to be very clear, if you are content in life and don’t yearn for something more, or wish you looked better in a bikini, or know 17 different languages, then please click that little X in the top of this article and stop reading. However, if you are like me and wish to make a difference in yours or other peoples lives, or have a skill you have always wanted to learn, then I want you to take a long hard look at yourself and the time you spend doing “stuff” in your everyday life and ask yourself: Is there something more I could be doing?
I am just going to answer that question for you. YES, YES there is!
Let’s presume most of you work the standard working day and on average you are up at 6-7am and you are home by around 7-8pm. Am I right in presuming that while you may have times in your life that this becomes more wide spread, this is probably your average day? This kind of hectic timeline has become standard these days however, it still remains that after sleep time of 6-8 hours you could potentially have anywhere from 4 to 6 hours of “play” time left in your day to do with as you please.
But Adam, you say, I must take time to wind down and relax and unwind from my day, to eat and to catch my weekly hit of reality TV. Great, go and do it, but stop complaining to yourself and the people around you, because I’m telling you no one is listening and no one really cares that you haven’t reached your goals!
If you want something, and I mean truly want something, then prioritise the time and get to it. The problem lies in the fact that we all want results now and aren’t prepared or simply don’t want to put in the hard work that is required to get the results we so desire.
So as I finish off this article I hope you haven’t read it and just thought, “Who is this guy to tell me what to do and how to live my life?” as you have missed my point completely. My take home message is this…
Please, please, please, I implore you to take 30 minutes out of your day, TODAY and not tomorrow, and sit down and really think about what you want to achieve in life and what your “real” goals are and just start doing it. Stop waiting for the perfect time to start, for the perfect weight loss program, the perfect set of circumstances that will let you take the leap. Take that first step and go at it with all your heart because I can assure you this…
Plenty of people look back on their lives with regret. Do you want to be one of them and saying to your loved ones, “I wish I had tried that” or would you rather think: “I can’t believe I achieved that”
If you ever need some help with setting your goals or wish to change your life through fitness, please feel free to contact me at anytime as I ALWAYS reply to my emails and would welcome the chance to help you in anyway I can.
