So, how can you practically value your time over money?

Track your time

The first step to valuing your time is to track it. Use a time-tracking app or a simple spreadsheet to record how you spend your time. This will help you identify where your time is going and make more conscious decisions about how to spend your time. A few time wasters to flag when doing this exercise are any time you're spending to:

• Worry about what-ifs and what-if-nots
• Live and replay the past for whatever reason
• Fantasize about the future
• Take too long to decide on things that are reversible and matter very little (like what you're going to eat for lunch or whether or not you should buy those shoes on Amazon)

Set priorities and create a time budget

Once you have an idea of how you're spending your time, set priorities. What's most important to you? What do you value? Is it spending time with loved ones, pursuing a hobby, or advancing your career? Decide what matters most and make sure you're spending your time accordingly. One way to do that is to budget your time for the week to come and determine how much time you'll allocate to your key activities. This will help you make more intentional choices about how you spend your time. Take a moment and think about what you want your life to look like during your final years - who do you want around you? what would you like to accomplish? what physical condition would you like to be in? How you invest your time now will bring you either closer or further away from that vision.

Learn to say NO

Now that you have clarity about your vision of your life, you'll need to protect it by setting boundaries and saying no to things that don't align with your goals, value, and vision. Saying no can be difficult, but it's important if you want to value your time. If someone asks you to do something that doesn't align with your priorities, politely decline. This will free up your time for the things that matter most to you. A reframe that worked for me is to remember that saying yes to someone else is often saying no to myself.

Outsource and delegate

Often, when we track our time, we feel that everything we're doing right now is necessary to do. This may be true, but what isn't true is that you'll need to do everything yourself. Whenever possible, look for ways to outsource and delegate as many of your tasks as possible so you can free up your time (your most precious resource). Often, this will give others the opportunity to learn and grow and relieve you of tasks you may not want to do or do not fall into your area of expertise. You'll also be poised to take advantage of unexpected opportunities that may arise.

Avoid multitasking or being perfect

There is enough research now that shows multitasking is not only a less effective use of time but often a source of stress. You're better off focusing on one task at a time and giving it your full attention (assuming the task is an important one - I'm all for listening to a podcast while folding laundry). Another way to gain back time is to let go of perfectionism and the need to control every situation. Sometimes good enough is good enough. Don't spend excessive time on tasks that don't require it. This practice will help you feel more comfortable delegating to others.

Schedule downtime and take breaks

As part of your time budget, schedule downtime to recharge your batteries. Whether it's watching your favorite TV show or taking a walk outside, make sure you're taking breaks throughout the day to give your brain a rest. This is assuming that you're getting ample sleep. If you're not getting enough sleep, prioritize that in your time budget.

Practice mindfulness and be present

Mindfulness can help you stay focused on the present moment and become aware that each moment carries a choice around how you want to spend your time. By practicing mindfulness meditation, you can catch yourself slipping into poor uses of time and adjust. I found Dan Harris's book 10% Happier and Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness for Beginners a good place to start if you want to learn. Being present will allow you to fully enjoy the experience and value the time you're spending.

Invest your time like you invest any other important resource. Be intentional, deliberate, and rigorous. Your time is what makes up your life (4000 weeks), so spend it wisely. Click here for a visual representation of how much time you have left to invest (a la Tim Urban's post: The Tail End).

Photo by Aron Visuals 

The post How to Value Time Over Money appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

But what does energy management really entail? We can easily see the time we save but it's harder for us to know if we're managing our energy well. A helpful visual to use is a personal energy tank. As you complete activities, energy is depleted and when you rest, your energy tank is refilled.

Three key strategies for managing your energy is to (1) prevent your energy tank from becoming empty, (2) increase the size of your tank, and (3) decrease the amount of energy you deplete per activity. 

Below are a few practical ways to manage your energy effectively:

Take care of your body

Your body is the machine that does your work and your job is to keep the machine maintained and running at max efficiency. To ensure your energy tank is at full during the start of your day, the most important thing you can do is to get 7-9 hours of sleep. To increase the capacity of your energy tank and to lower the amount of energy you expend for each activity, exercise frequently and eat well. The better your physical conditioning, the more you'll be able to do. There are many resources you can use to optimize your individual fitness routine and diet - choose one and get started. Here is a regime I use when I want to get back into shape.

Understand how emotions impact your energy and vice versa

As humans, we constantly feel emotions. Most of us are not aware of how our emotions drain our energy and how our energy impacts our emotions. The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence has created a mood meter app which divides Emotion vs Energy into the quadrants below:

From an energy-use perspective, high energy emotions drain more energy than low energy emotions. This is true for both positive and negative emotions. You may be feeling "motivated" or "inspired" but remember these high-energy emotions are quickly depleting your energy. The way to recharge your energy is to rest, which means staying in the low energy, high pleasantness quadrant (gratitude or meditation is a good way to get there). Another powerful way to use emotions is as a marker for your energy level throughout the day. Ask yourself: What emotion am I feeling right now and is this a high or low energy emotion?

From an emotion-management perspective, first, identify which emotion you're feeling and which quadrant you're in. For example, if you're feeling "miserable", you're in the low-energy, low pleasantness quadrant. To break out of this emotional state, find ways to increase pleasantness by re-reading thank you letters from others or watching videos of your kids. If you want to restore your energy, consider sleeping early or going for a light run.

Learn to control your attention

What you experience in life is directly related to what you focus your attention on. Your ability to shift attention towards what you want to do and away from distractions will allow you to do more with the energy you have. Meditative practices, like yoga, meditation, or running long-distance, can help you better guide your mind to where you want it to go.

Whenever you can, avoid multi-tasking, which is simply task-switching, and tackle your most important activity first.

Work on something that matters

Most if not all of us want a meaningful life. What is difficult about reaching this goal is figuring out what will make a difference and give us a sense of purpose. During a recent talk, I heard the following three elements of meaningful work that I found useful:

1. Do something that helps people - most people think of this element when they think of meaningful work. If what you're doing can directly improve someone's life without making another person worse off, you'll probably find it meaningful.
2. Do something that uncovers the truth - when your activities unlock a truth about you or how the world really works, you may find yourself infused with purpose. This search for truth may be the reason so many researchers devote their lives to their narrow field of study for little to no social rewards.
3. Do something that makes the world more beautiful - whether it's a painting, song, computer program, mathematical proof, etc., spending time to add more beauty to the world can fuel you when there is seemingly little else to gain from your efforts.

When you do work that you find meaningful, you'll find that you'll increase your energy capacity significantly. This will allow you to accomplish more than others who may not be supercharged by the type of work that they do.

As you think about your day tomorrow, consider getting a good night's rest. After you wake up with your energy tank full, work only on your most important task for about 60-90 minutes. Then take a mental and physical break by taking a walk or eating a light snack. Continue your meaningful work but monitor your emotions to gauge your energy levels. If you're feeling depleted, consider a 20-minute power nap or another way to rest so you can recharge. Complete your workday with less important but necessary tasks and reflect on how you managed your energy. End your day with a good night's rest and repeat.

Photo by Riccardo Annandale

The post 4 Practical Ways to Manage Your Energy to Achieve More in Life appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

(click on book cover for more details)

Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day by Todd Henry

• Published: April 2015
• ISBN-10: 1591846994
• EP Rating: 5 out of 5 (must read)

EP Main Takeaway: Know your purpose and devote most of your time to accomplish it. Actions define us not intentions - you make maps by moving - when you stand still, it's hard to know what to do. Don't focus on being great to others, just focus on delivering great work. Remember the lag between cause and effect - always a delay between planting and sowing.

Ask yourself: What did you fail at this week? (This is your driver for growth)

The post Die Empty by Todd Henry appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

The main reason is I've been single-tasking, a technique Leo Babauta uses to get a lot of stuff done. This month, I've focused most of my time finalizing my first book and have put my other projects on hold.

Today I received an email from one of my readers asking if everything was ok since I haven't posted any new articles recently. To be honest, I've been so focused that I didn't realize so much time has passed since my last article and it was nice for someone who lives halfway around the world to check in on me (Thanks Stefan). Stefan's email made me wish I had more time in the day to do all the things I wanted to get done and this reminded me of a quote from How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett.

"which of us has not been saying to himself all his life: 'I shall alter that when I have a little more time'? We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is."

We are all given 24 hours but why do some people get so much more done than others? What is their secret?

Being able to effectively manage their time 

Here are a few tips I use to make the best use of my time:

Keep a Commitments List

There are times when no matter how hard I try or how fast I work, I don't finish my list of daily tasks. This occurred because I've overbooked myself. The problem, I later realized, was my unwillingness to say no to interesting projects combined with the unsustainable number of interesting projects being brought to my attention. In short, I had trouble saying "no" and it was mainly due to these reasons:

• fearing to miss out on opportunities (FOMO)
• underestimating the time I'll need to devote to each project
• not realizing how many commitments I already had until I said "yes"

My usual solution was to sacrifice sleep but my wife has strongly encouraged me to move away from that. What worked for me to improve this situation was to take inventory of my current commitments and keep an up-to-date list of all my commitments. Just making the list will be very helpful to you but when you couple the list with the rule that no new commitments can be added unless an existing commitment is removed, the effect is powerful. This forces you to evaluate any new commitments that you are tempted to take on and it helps you say "no" to any request on my time that is not worthy of sacrificing an existing commitment. If you're the type of person who finds it hard to say "no", use this method. It's a simple and easy way to keep yourself accountable.

Know Where Your Time Goes

This is the conventional strategy for time management:

Log how you spend your time

and it works. I find it helpful to log your time usage for three weeks including the weekends at 30-minute intervals. It helps to create a paper version that you can carry around or if you have an iPhone, you can use this free app. Once you know where your time goes, categorize how you use your time and calculate how many hours you spend on each category. Categories that I use are:

• Sleep
• Meals
• Productive Work
• Errands,
• Travel/Commute
• Personal Development
• Health/Exercise
• Planning
• Relationships (Social/Friends/Family)
• Wasted Time

I recommend that you create your own categories. You can keep it simple using two categories (Good Time and Wasted Time) or you can make it as detailed as you like (jogging, yoga, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, train, walking, tv, etc.) What's important is being very honest with yourself and how you use your time. Once you know where your time goes, you can usually find chunks of wasted time you can put to good use. This is the fun part: using creative ways to make use of your wasted time. I commute to work and the commute involves both walking and taking the train. I listen to audiobooks when I walk and I read when I'm on the train. This is enough to satisfy my daily personal development commitments and it opens up the time that was formerly reserved for personal development.

Make Room in Your Schedule

If you're reading this article, it's because you have a lot to do and not enough time to do it. I can bet that after the time-logging exercise, you already filled up all the free time you found. You need to be careful about this. Life rarely goes according to plan and you need to plan for that. Always give yourself some buffer time so you can take advantage of what life has to offer. Opportunities may come up that you may want to take on or you may be in flow and want to work longer than you planned for. I encourage you to re-evaluate your list of commitments and your time log to make room for one to two hours of uncommitted time. This is something I've been experimenting with and it has allowed me to introduce greater flexibility in my schedule without any of the guilt that usually comes with not completing my daily tasks.

The post How to Effectively Manage Your Time appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

Success comes in many ways and forms. What's interesting is that most successful people have very similar qualities.

When I read lists such as this one, I want to see how I stack up against it. It feels good when I recognize the qualities of success in myself. For the qualities that I don't have, lists like these tell me what I need to work on.

I have enjoyed and benefited much from these types of lists and that's why I decided to organize all my research, observations, and experience and compile this comprehensive list.

If you want to achieve your life's dream and be wildly successful, you need to model yourself after people who are living their dream. The more qualities you have in common, the higher your chances for being wildly successful.

"Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny."

- Tryon Edwards

We all start out in life as being quite ordinary and many remain that way. The few who have become extraordinary have these qualities (no specific order):

1. Definite Aim, Vision and Purpose - Successful people constantly seek clarity in their lives. They know what they want and they follow their own dream. Vague desires and beliefs lead to vague outcomes. It is this sense of direction that gives them the staying power to stick to their goals and achieve their dreams.

2. Expertise and Excellence - No matter what they pursue, they become the best in their field. There is no job too small and successful people strive for excellence. They pursue mastery and understand that money is a by-product of the value they offer.

3. Focused - People who experience success know how to concentrate. They realize that they cannot do everything and they focus on the activities that will give them the highest return on the goals they want to achieve. They don't believe in the hype of multi-tasking and they know that the fastest way to finish your to-do's is doing them one at a time.

4. Positive Attitude and Perseverance - Extraordinary people have realistic optimism. Realistic because they take action and optimistic because no matter what the result may be, they believe their success is inevitable. They believe that like a child learning to walk, they need to take action first and then modify the action according to the feedback that they get. This positive attitude allows them to persevere and be resilient when things don't go their way.

5. Flexible - One misconception that ordinary people have about persevering is staying the course no matter what. This is true only if the reason for pursuing your goal is still valid. Most successful people achieved success doing something different from what they initially intended to do (Example: Steve Jobs started with computers, went into the animation, and really made his comeback with the iPod). This makes sense because the world is always changing and they know a lot more now than when they started. Successful people know that if their reasons for doing what they are doing changes, there is no point to continue.

6. Masters of Time - Successful people are successful because they get a lot done. The only way to do that is by making the most out of the allotted 24 hours we all get. Extraordinary people value their time and see the direct connection between how they spend their time and their energy. They are usually always on time and "train" those that deal with them to respect their schedule by implementing strict start and end times for meetings.

7. Strong Communicators - People who can communicate effectively excel in life. Strong communicators understand that just because people speak English (or the dominant language in your country), it does not mean they understand each other. What makes them effective is that they are clear about and sensitive to the outcome they want to get from their communication and are flexible in their method of communication to achieve their outcome. They are experts at building rapport and separate what is being said from the meaning they put into what is being said.

8. Brave - We've all heard the phrase "No risk. No reward." but how many of us really take the risk necessary to get the reward we want? Not many but for those who do, they are the ones who make it and become successful. Successful people have the courage to begin AND the courage to continue. They are willing to not only bet but go "all in" on themselves. They are not afraid to burn bridges if it means moving forward.

9. Givers - Successful people are generous givers. They know and are convinced of the "secret" that the more you give, the more you receive as long as you are genuine about your gifts. They operate on the principle embodied by Zig Ziglar's quote, "You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." If you haven't tapped into this secret, you should get started right away. Money isn't the only thing you can give. You can give time, expertise, space, etc. Look for ways to open doors for people.

10. High Self-Esteem - Extraordinary people believe they deserve their success and know that they can do anything they set their mind to. They understand that a mistake is something that they do and not who they are. They also monitor the warning signs of low self-esteem to ensure they always keep a positive self-image of themselves. They realize that self-esteem is a state of mind and choosing to have high self-esteem is much more useful than choosing to have low self-esteem.

16. Self Acceptance - Polonius had it exactly right when he said: "To thine own self be true". People who are successful don't pretend to be something they are not. This allows them to express their creativity freely and not worry about hiding who they really are. The best way to accept yourself is to genuinely appreciate and accept others. If you tend to judge other people, you're probably not very accepting of yourself either. The worse type of rejection is self-rejection.

17. Big Dreams - I have yet to read a biography of a successful person who didn't have grand dreams for what they would accomplish. Sir Richard Branson, Walt Disney, and Sam Walton all had big dreams and for the most part, achieved more than they originally imagined. This is one of the reasons they became successful. They are not afraid to dream big and then go for it. If you want to know whether someone will be successful, ask them about their dreams. If they sound plausible, then they are not dreaming big enough.

18. Well Rounded and Balanced - Truly successful people strive to be successful in all aspects of their lives. They live healthy lives, become financially independent, nurture meaningful relationships, develop personal mastery, and accomplish their professional goals. They know that sacrificing one key area to achieve another will not help them maximize their true potential. It is hard to be your best and to contribute when you have to worry about how you are going to pay the rent.

19. Excellent Network - Successful people understand the importance of relationships and how it is one of the most important factors in achieving your goals. They also realize that the best way to build a great network is to give help to others first with no expectation of reward. Those who constantly take without giving usually do very poorly on building a solid network.

20. Enthusiastic - A sure sign of someone extraordinary is the enthusiasm they have about their passion and their life. They wake up in the morning excited about their day because they know it is going to bring them one step closer to achieving their dream. Successful people tend to be leaders because others are attracted to their enthusiasm and become followers hoping to experience the same excitement and energy.

21. Admits Mistakes - There are two things you can do to guarantee that you will NOT be successful in the future: Blaming Others and Making Excuses. When you do these two things, you give up both your responsibility and power. When something goes wrong and you blame other people or make excuses, you are clearly stating that you have no power in this situation and things are happening to you and not because of you. Great people admit when they are wrong so they can focus on the solution and not waste energy finding a scapegoat. Check out what Albert Einstein can teach us about setbacks.

22. Mindset of Abundance - Successful people don't view happiness or success as a finite resource where achieving happiness and success for yourself means denying someone else happiness and success. They believe that there is enough to go around and it is more about creating value and not competition. This is the quality that allows them to be happy for other people's successes. This mindset also encourages the empowerment of others. If you think $10,000 is a lot to spend on a hotel room, check out this article by Steve Pavlina.

23. Good Character - Heroes are people who triumph. Think of all the heroes you know (in movies, books, and real-life). Don't they all act with honesty and integrity? Aren't they usually generous with others and frugal with themselves? Doesn't everyone look up to them? Being a hero that triumphs in life is no different.

24. Great Company - As I get older, I've come to recognize that you can learn a lot about someone by the company that they keep. Test this idea by watching people you know and noting who they spend the most time with. Some say a person's salary is usually the average of the five people they hang out with the most.

This happens because people with similar beliefs tend to get along and stick together. If a group averages $65,000/year and someone in the group believes that they can make $65,000/hour, the other people in the group will think that is ridiculous. Yet in the group where everyone makes $65,000/hour, the person making $65,000/year will probably second guess his or her own beliefs concerning earning ability.

What does that mean for you?

Surround yourself with people living the life you want to live and adopt their beliefs and habits. This might mean spending less time with the people you've outgrown.

25. Listener - Everyone wants to be a great speaker but how many people strive to be excellent listeners. People who listen succeed in life because they are able to hear and understand the needs of other people and to focus their energy on meeting those needs. The fastest way to be a good conversationalist is to listen well and ask questions.

26. Self Control - Successful people rarely lose control. They don't go into panics or blind rages. They have learned to control their emotions and consciously (or subconsciously) put themselves in a resourceful state. They understand that they can't change other people or what's happening to them but they can change how they react to it and how they feel about it. Another sign of self-control is doing what you're supposed to do despite how you feel about it.

27. Prepared - Extraordinary people are always prepared. They not only have a plan B but also a Plan C, D, E, and F. They mentally rehearse and visualize the possibilities vividly so that when the actual situation occurs, their brains will "remember" what to do.

28. Choice - People who are successful are in control. They know they ALWAYS have a choice. They don't feel victimized by their genetics, history and/or circumstances and they truly believe that the past does not determine the future. They write the script to their lives.

29. Self Reliant - Successful people rely on themselves. They don't need permission to do what they want and they don't give other people permission to slow them down by relying on them. They believe in themselves and their ability to achieve their dreams whether anyone helps them or not. What's interesting is that it is exactly this type of attitude that attracts others to want to help you. Samuel Smiles writes about this exact topic in his book, Self-Help (pdf).

30. Energy Conscious - Those who become great understand that successfully managing their energy is just as important if not more so than managing their time (Quality #6). One of the most important principles in energy management is knowing that rest is as important as action. Successful people are aware that low energy produces poor results and this violates their need for excellence (Quality #2). One of the best ways to manage your energy is to sleep your way to success.

So where do you stand?

I hope you have either reconfirmed many of your own qualities or have created action plans to develop the qualities you are lacking. Focus on cultivating one or two qualities at a time. Once your beliefs and actions are aligned with those of a successful person, you'll be amazed by how successful you become.

Bookmark and review this list often to measure yourself against it. Use it as a checklist knowing that the more qualities that you have, the higher your likelihood of being wildly successful in whatever you pursue. If you found this list helpful, share it with others who can benefit from it.

Which one of these building blocks of success do you want to develop? Are there any qualities of success that I left off that should be included in this list?

Also, if you've read this far, you obviously care about your development. To support your efforts, you can access the paid-version of my Know What You Want Workshop free. Just register using this code: robertsentme

The post 30 Qualities that Make Ordinary People Extraordinary appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

What time are we meeting them? 3:00pm?

The post How to Always Be On Time appeared first on Embrace Possibility.

One of my biggest struggles is finishing something that I started.

I would always be excited and have all this energy in the beginning, but like a child with a new toy, the excitement fades away and the goal doesn't seem worth doing anymore so I would just give it up and move on to the next exciting thing.

Although there is nothing wrong with having a lot of ideas, I wasn't accomplishing the things I wanted to achieve by starting so many new projects and goals. I was actually diluting my efforts and wasting  my time because I would never reach my desired outcome.

I have now learned a great way to stick to my goals. It came to me after I heard this classic story:

It's the middle ages and there were 3 stone masons hard at work when a visitor stopped and asks each of them "What are you doing?"

The first stone mason said in a harsh voice, "Can't you see? I'm carrying rocks!"

The second stone mason replied in a more resigned voice, "I'm building a wall."

The last stone mason responded with enthusiasm, "I am building a beautiful cathedral that will glorify God for centuries to come."

Who do you think felt the most fulfilled? Who would you bet on to achieve their goal?

Now every time I set or evaluate a goal, I ask myself the question "What are you doing?" and I listen to my answer. I have discovered personally that when I see the bigger purpose behind my goals, it is much easier to do what it takes to achieve it even if I don't feel like doing it. If the goal doesn't have a bigger purpose, then it is not worth doing because I've come to learn that time is my most precious resource.

So ... what are you doing?

The post How to Stick to Your Goals Even If You Never Could appeared first on Embrace Possibility.