Time Management Please! How to escape deadline failure & create energy!

To all you time thieves out there.......... Get your own life & leave mine alone!!

You ever had that happen to you? Something or someone just appears as if by some strange kind of voodoz-gizmagic & throws you off course, round a few lamposts up a few trees & down with a bump of distinct lack of achievemnet-itis. Usually when you have a deadline, often when you need sleep, always when you know things are going just a little too well, you could almost expect it.
" I wonder what'll go wrong this time?-- La la la la lahaha, but isn't it all going well?-- usually about now I start to get jittery though-- Lalalala ha ha HAH but this time it's different...... isn't it.....? Oh look there's my deadline up ahead......" Aha!! That's the key you see, no?
We do know to expect trouble, because of the way we refer to 'usually' , 'often' or 'always'. It's in the title we give to our thoughts & it's in our heads giving out all that negative energy which will only attract more. But it isn't about anyone else, it's all about you.
Now we're getting somewhere, let us pause.........

.............Remind me just now what an amazing creature you are. Take a moment to evaluate yourself, appreciate all that you do that is good in your world, share it a little with the rest of us..... go on, my name is -fill in the blank- & I am amazing at -activity of your choice- . Feel better? Not thought of anything you're amazing at? Well stick around, that's another entry coming your way soon. Seriously, big pat on the back for what you do get done, all of it, in any measure.

Now for the science bit:
So, who are the time thieves & how do we escape them?

Where to begin....... Ok, see, it may surprise you to know, that someone you know really well could just be your favourite time-thief. By favourite I don't mean like an auntie in whose talcummed breast we can surrender our angst & relax into a deep hypnotic sleep...... unless that's just me.....(?) We're not talking about liking the experience here. What I mean with 'favourite' is, as in the dictionary definition of most prefered which in turn identifies that which we would rather choose or like better. And the really cute part is that if we just choose to take the time to get to know that certain someone just a leetle beet better ........ (you like the way I'm using the same words there for a bit of reinforcement...? Did it work?) we can rid ourselves of the curse of the time thieves once & for all!! Hoorah!!
Are you with me???
Play along with this one, go look in a mirror. When you have finished admiring yourself as you must surely do (no, you must, I insist) think about what you see. More importantly, who, exactly do you see? Do you see the person who needs to be introduced to their time-thief or do you see..... yourself.....? Really see yourSelf? Well hello to you, you have now met the worst & most unfortunate protagonist in this little tale, your biggest time thief ever, it's YOU!!!!
Now now, calm down, this isn't going to hurt any more than that did, the worst is now over. Apart from admitting it. To yourself. Now. 'Hello, me, I am The time thief I fear the most'. Something like that. And just get over it already. Because once you have met them & honoured their existence in your life, guess what? You can set yourself free! This is going to be the best thing that ever happened to you, or the worst if you enjoy making up excuses but we won't go there.

It is an unalterable fact that in life we do the worst possible things to ourselves then look around for someone else to blame. I would love your examples of this so do post your comments. It's fun once you get into it. But seriously folks, we do do that, & we do it rather a lot. In terms of how or why we would do that, don't beat yourself up with the naughty stick, you're only human after all. Oh, & if you're not & you're reading this, far out! The most common cause of stealing from ourselves the most precious commodity known to mortal man is......... fill in the blank as you see fit. Oh alright then, I'll tell, but only if you promise to really really think about......... ok? Where was I, yes, common causation re time-thievery. Well think about it for a moment. Who among us makes use of the bahaviour tool procrastinatus no-actionus? No? What about the neat little disease of something-better-to-do-itis, the not so clever not-lazy-just-need-to-think pause button, or the designer label of did-you-say-next-week-daaarling. No? Oh yes yes yes & there are so many many more, we all have that behaviour tool in our repertoire but it goes by any other name because that too feeds its nasty little habit. Whatever your awareness level currently is regarding your desire or ability to put off that which you could easliy fit into tomorrow is, I can gaurantee you it's happening. Even the most highly trained motivators, coaches, visionaries, (me) professionals with deadlines, er who else........ me, again, we all do it. It isn't always glaringly obvious, sometimes it comes well wrapped in so much other stuff we can't detect the little fella. But I promise you it's there. It is called procrastination & it is often driven by self-sabotage.
What happens is (those of you with an understanding of the Art & Science of NLP will know well) little doubts & questions begin to sneak around gobbling little pockets of time as they go......... we're often not aware of their root cause, we may not know how hungry they are....... but given time the little varmints take over & lo we realise something ain't quite right. So we fight it, we want to win, we want to succeed, make that deadline, prove ourselves......... and............ drat! Pesky little critters gain momentum & voice, crescendo is reached followed by fever pitch of panic & can we think straight in all of that????? You can??
Wow! Most of us find that a real challenge, it's just so noisy & frenetic & frustrating & we slow down...... we fight it...... try to keep going no matter what..... but it feels like walking through treacle to reach a construction site & halfway there you realise you're losing all your tools.
The answer??
Stop.
Be still.
Allow flow...........
Allow ebb.......
Make some new friends as you uncover your own natural rhythm.....

That's how you deal with the symptoms!!!
But you want to know how to tackle the cause!?!
Do you believe yet that you sabotage yourself...........?
Watch this space for more if you want to live your best life.
And remember, pat yourself on the back every time you manage to finish something in time, on time, to the best of your ability. Acknowledge your successes however small. Tell yourself you're great, at least 10 times a day, watch what happens when you start to believe...............


email to jennie@esteemsolutions.co.uk
website coming soon!!!!! www.esteemsolutions.co.uk