Time

Time.

We always say we don’t have enough of it to accomplish all that we want to accomplish, but I would venture to say that when we say this, we are unaware of how much time we truly waste. We have been given plenty of time each day to accomplish many things. While work may take up to 8-10 hours a day, we are still left with 14-16 other hours. If you sleep for eight, you still have 6-8 more hours to get to work. That’s almost another whole workday! If we were given 30 hours in a day, we would probably find ourselves wasting the extra six on entertainment, relaxing, or sleeping.

The reality is that you just have to choose where you'll spend your time.  I've had to come to the realization that I've been given a certain number of minutes during the day.  Just like I don't want to squander my limited cash, so it is with my limited time.

Since this blog is about writing, that is what I’ll focus on. Sometimes it's easy to think about being an author.  But to do that, you first have to be a writer - you can't have the success without the work. The truth is if we want to write, like many other things in life, we need to sacrifice. And some of those sacrifices will involve how we spend our time. Do you watch television at night? Turn it off! Do you sleep for 8 hours? Sleep for 6! Do you take long baths? Take showers! Did you post a status update on Facebook? Write a sentence of your story instead.

If we say we don’t have enough time to write, then we need to take inventory of our time each day.

This is me taking inventory of my time.

I myself am guilty of thinking this: “I need time to unwind.” Well, at that moment I guess I don’t want to be a writer, I want to be a rest-er (I know that’s not a word).

I have four kids, so I know what it's like to be exhausted.  You know, as much as I would like to get a full-time job, I am thankful that I can be with my kids during the day, so that when I go out to write at night, I don't feel so guilty about it. I know that I've already invested in them that day. If I did work full-time though, I would have to be even more parsimonious with my free time, and I would have to get even less sleep to continue to write.

Accomplishing things takes sacrifices. If I’m sitting on the couch rather than writing, then that is my love for the moment; that is what I want. This goes for all areas of our lives. We need to stop making excuses for why we don’t get anything done.

In the end, if I say I don’t have time to write, then I’m lazy or I don’t want it badly enough. That is okay. But I don’t need to lie to everyone around me and say I don’t have time. I have plenty of time – I just don’t want to “waste” it on writing, or I have other priorities. It's really true to say that if you can do things other than writing, you probably should. Although, if you're like me, and you can't help but write, and that's what you really love... then find the time to do it.