Space. Was your first reaction to the word accommodations? Office space? Closet or cupboard space? For many storage space is at a premium so that’s the first thing that comes to mind.
That is not the space I’m referring to. I’m talking about space of time.
I’m currently working on a Time Mastery program that looks at time. It’s not about cramming more into a day than you did before, or scheduling, using a PDA or BlackBerry. It’s about time, the concept of time and how we respect it and ourselves in relation to time. We’re in the midst of looking at leaders and how they seem to fly through their days, directing, delegating, strategizing, making decisions and yes, calling endless back to back meetings.
So I took some time to look at time and see its dynamics. I then started asking my clients what they thought of first when they heard the term “buying time”. In one way or another, the answers revolved around having more time to do things, see things, to play and shelve work for the time being. It was hearing “I wish I could clone myself so I could do more” and “I wish I had more time to…”
Truthfully it had nothing whatsoever to do with having more time or saving time so something else could be slotted into that chunk of time. Rather, what they weren’t saying but meant was they wished they had time. Extra time. Unplanned time. They wanted space….nothingness, quiet time, time to just be, to let the thoughts fly in any direction, to think, imagine and explore possibility.
They wanted creative time, time to conceptualize, to strategize, to play, learn, and get to know others. They wanted time to unwind and relax. Many had forgotten how. They couldn’t remember the last time they just relaxed or didn’t rush to do something else in that tiny bit of time that appeared unexpectedly. They felt guilty if they took time for themselves, so they didn’t. Instead they did something for someone else or worked. Time, 'space', is such a precious commodity, heaven forbid they couldn’t waste it! And was doing nothing or planning nothing during that short period actually be wasting time or valuing it and themselves? Relaxing? What’s that? They didn’t remember how to relax. They were wired all the time, literally and figuratively.
People don’t know how to do nothing. They forgot how.
"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not the only the scenery you miss by going to fast-you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." -Eddie Cantor
Best!
Donna Karlin
***Note: Every other week, we publish a free newsletter, Perspectives in Brief that is delivered to your in-box or handheld with great tips on the run to run with, pricing breaks for coaching and program launches. Reading time is 2 minutes or less. To subscribe, go to www.perspectivesinbrief.com/subscribe
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Thursday, September 27, 2007
What Would I Do With Extra Time?
I'm sitting here working on my Time Mastery Program thinking of a challenge I was asked to take part in a couple of weeks ago with regards to "What would I do with an extra 36 hours..."
A question that comes to mind is, before you decide what you would do with that gift of time, and assuming for a moment you would use that time for play and not work, could you disconnect? What I mean by that is, could you disconnect from the office, from your cell phone, BlackBerry, any other means of electronic communication device so you could truly free up that time for play?
If you can't disconnect, you're not truly present and missing out on the amazing gift being given to you. And if you can't disconnect, what is it you really have to look at to enjoy the time you already have?
One other thing comes to mind. Even in answering the question "What would you do with an extra 36 hours?", for me the answer would continually change as my life changes, circumstances change and, most importantly would depend on the people in my life.
Remember to rethink, redefine and re-evaluate. Time is a fleeting moment after moment gift, never to be recaptured...same as the special moments with those special people in our lives. What is lost cannot be recaptured. Time never stands still. Respect it and how you treat it and others and the rest will unfold as it should.
Best!
Donna Karlin
A question that comes to mind is, before you decide what you would do with that gift of time, and assuming for a moment you would use that time for play and not work, could you disconnect? What I mean by that is, could you disconnect from the office, from your cell phone, BlackBerry, any other means of electronic communication device so you could truly free up that time for play?
If you can't disconnect, you're not truly present and missing out on the amazing gift being given to you. And if you can't disconnect, what is it you really have to look at to enjoy the time you already have?
One other thing comes to mind. Even in answering the question "What would you do with an extra 36 hours?", for me the answer would continually change as my life changes, circumstances change and, most importantly would depend on the people in my life.
Remember to rethink, redefine and re-evaluate. Time is a fleeting moment after moment gift, never to be recaptured...same as the special moments with those special people in our lives. What is lost cannot be recaptured. Time never stands still. Respect it and how you treat it and others and the rest will unfold as it should.
Best!
Donna Karlin
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The Gift of Time
Lorrain Cohen of Powerfull Living fame tagged me to answer the question "What would I do with an extra 36 hours?" Click here to read her post.
I started laughing when I got her email as I recently did a poll, posted a blog and asked clients "What would you do if you had an extra 15 minutes on top of the 24 hours in a day? (click here to read that post) and got screamed at from all parts of the globe.
"WHAT? 15 MINUTES? What's 15 minutes? What can anyone do in just 15 minutes?"
It's amazing how people take time and toss it out the window discounting how precious it really is. And by the way, we came up with quite the list and one of the reasons why I started working on my Time Mastery Program.
So 36 hours. WOW! That is a gift!
I am absolutely firm on setting personal boundaries. I choose the clients I want to work with and make sure we both grow from our coaching relationships. I literally book in work play time which is creative time for me, creating concepts, programs, articles, material and the most fun logos for each...and play play time for me where I book off a few days of the month over and above weekends to see friends, explore my beautiful city (Ottawa, even being the capital is one of the best kept secrets of Canada, didn't you know?) or to just read under the trees, walk through the woods or light a fire and listen to a new piece of music.
As my first degree was in music performance and I used to play in an orchestra in my first life, I make sure I have extra time for music. Also in a past life just for the fun of it I apprenticed as a chef, discovering new flavours, cuisines, so cooking with my son (who has turned into an amazing cook!) and friends, for friends, is way up there.
I am at a place in my life where I make sure I have plenty of time (it's all relative) for the special people in my life, my work, crises that pop up and as I work globally those are a given so I would say for the 36 extra hours I would just add some of it to each of the ways I play in my life. I work many hours, long, hard and intense hours as a Shadow Coach™ so all of that 36 hours would be for play, creativity, learning, taking one course a year over and above the learning I do now, teaching more and mentoring more up and coming coaches. I might not have oodles of time at hand to spend on whatever comes up but I can tell you that each person in my life knows that every moment I spend with them is one by choice, even if it's a short phone call. I no longer do anything out of obligation so jump into life with both feet because I want to 'be there' or 'do that' if you know what I mean. I'm not fitting life in... I'm choosing it.
I think we first need to change our mind set, then set personal boundaries, then choose what we want our lives to look like, whether for 24 hours or 36. It's all a gift, don't you think?
Hey Lorraine...thanks for tagging me. I'm honoured!
Best for all the time in your life!
Donna Karlin
I started laughing when I got her email as I recently did a poll, posted a blog and asked clients "What would you do if you had an extra 15 minutes on top of the 24 hours in a day? (click here to read that post) and got screamed at from all parts of the globe.
"WHAT? 15 MINUTES? What's 15 minutes? What can anyone do in just 15 minutes?"
It's amazing how people take time and toss it out the window discounting how precious it really is. And by the way, we came up with quite the list and one of the reasons why I started working on my Time Mastery Program.
So 36 hours. WOW! That is a gift!
I am absolutely firm on setting personal boundaries. I choose the clients I want to work with and make sure we both grow from our coaching relationships. I literally book in work play time which is creative time for me, creating concepts, programs, articles, material and the most fun logos for each...and play play time for me where I book off a few days of the month over and above weekends to see friends, explore my beautiful city (Ottawa, even being the capital is one of the best kept secrets of Canada, didn't you know?) or to just read under the trees, walk through the woods or light a fire and listen to a new piece of music.
As my first degree was in music performance and I used to play in an orchestra in my first life, I make sure I have extra time for music. Also in a past life just for the fun of it I apprenticed as a chef, discovering new flavours, cuisines, so cooking with my son (who has turned into an amazing cook!) and friends, for friends, is way up there.
I am at a place in my life where I make sure I have plenty of time (it's all relative) for the special people in my life, my work, crises that pop up and as I work globally those are a given so I would say for the 36 extra hours I would just add some of it to each of the ways I play in my life. I work many hours, long, hard and intense hours as a Shadow Coach™ so all of that 36 hours would be for play, creativity, learning, taking one course a year over and above the learning I do now, teaching more and mentoring more up and coming coaches. I might not have oodles of time at hand to spend on whatever comes up but I can tell you that each person in my life knows that every moment I spend with them is one by choice, even if it's a short phone call. I no longer do anything out of obligation so jump into life with both feet because I want to 'be there' or 'do that' if you know what I mean. I'm not fitting life in... I'm choosing it.
I think we first need to change our mind set, then set personal boundaries, then choose what we want our lives to look like, whether for 24 hours or 36. It's all a gift, don't you think?
Hey Lorraine...thanks for tagging me. I'm honoured!
Best for all the time in your life!
Donna Karlin
Monday, August 06, 2007
It's a Launch!
Well, it's finally happening. After a truck load of emails, and trust me when I tell you there is NEVER a shortage of emails in my inbox, we’re finally launching our newsletter Perspectives in Brief. We’ll have a home for it at http://www.perspectivesinbrief.com/, for those of you who sign up after tomorrow’s post so you can read what was sent out in the past.
And as comments keep coming in to this blog, through my weekly posts on Fast Company Experts, and through published articles and interviews, I realized I had to do a few things differently as well as add a few. So to meet those requests, I created a self-coaching program that will give people a piece of me even when they can’t (for whatever reason) have a piece of me and secondly set up a system by which I could be more accessible through phone or technology for laser and lightening round sessions.
We just launched “It’s All About You…and Others”. Click here to check it out! Soon to be released is our Time Mastery program, “If I Could Save Time in a Bottle”. Stay tuned. We'll let you know when that one's going to launch.
As of tomorrow, the first broadcast of Perspectives in Brief will be sent out to subscribers. It’s a short sweet, to-the-point 'tips to run with' and think about that can be delivered through your in-box or Berry. The way I look at it, anything longer than what you can read in an elevator is too long for a newsletter. To sign up, fill in the form on the sidebar of this blog to get you going. More in-depth and detailed articles, book recommendations etc will be posted here on Perspectives.
We’ve reserved a few days a month for laser and lightening round sessions. I believe executive coaches need to rethink how they work with many clients. Life coaches are a different realm altogether, but in this fast paced chaotic world when sometimes you might need a half hour to an hour reality check, brain storming session or removal of a roadblock, one session just might do it. And if you know it’s possible to book as you need, then you’ll get what you need.
For those solopreneurs, business people or those new coaches who are up-and-comings and need some help in designing a practice that works for you, hour long lightening round sessions will give you the chance to pick my brain and create something that speaks you, not a clone of someone else and to look at marketing, target audience etc. Let’s get you jumping into the deep end with an eye on the sky, OK? To find out more about how to book Lightening Round and Laser sessions with me, email us and we’ll get right back to you!
It’s time you asked for what you want, not just accept what you’re getting. But that goes for life too, does it not?
Best!
Donna Karlin
And as comments keep coming in to this blog, through my weekly posts on Fast Company Experts, and through published articles and interviews, I realized I had to do a few things differently as well as add a few. So to meet those requests, I created a self-coaching program that will give people a piece of me even when they can’t (for whatever reason) have a piece of me and secondly set up a system by which I could be more accessible through phone or technology for laser and lightening round sessions.
We just launched “It’s All About You…and Others”. Click here to check it out! Soon to be released is our Time Mastery program, “If I Could Save Time in a Bottle”. Stay tuned. We'll let you know when that one's going to launch.
As of tomorrow, the first broadcast of Perspectives in Brief will be sent out to subscribers. It’s a short sweet, to-the-point 'tips to run with' and think about that can be delivered through your in-box or Berry. The way I look at it, anything longer than what you can read in an elevator is too long for a newsletter. To sign up, fill in the form on the sidebar of this blog to get you going. More in-depth and detailed articles, book recommendations etc will be posted here on Perspectives.
We’ve reserved a few days a month for laser and lightening round sessions. I believe executive coaches need to rethink how they work with many clients. Life coaches are a different realm altogether, but in this fast paced chaotic world when sometimes you might need a half hour to an hour reality check, brain storming session or removal of a roadblock, one session just might do it. And if you know it’s possible to book as you need, then you’ll get what you need.
For those solopreneurs, business people or those new coaches who are up-and-comings and need some help in designing a practice that works for you, hour long lightening round sessions will give you the chance to pick my brain and create something that speaks you, not a clone of someone else and to look at marketing, target audience etc. Let’s get you jumping into the deep end with an eye on the sky, OK? To find out more about how to book Lightening Round and Laser sessions with me, email us and we’ll get right back to you!
It’s time you asked for what you want, not just accept what you’re getting. But that goes for life too, does it not?
Best!
Donna Karlin
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