Undoubtedly, the most precious commodity we all have is time. When I gave up working for someone else and started my own business, this suddenly became the greatest paradigm shift I’d had in a long time and a major ‘aha’ moment for me. Suddenly, I was no longer locked into a routine. I didn’t have to be anywhere at a certain time, I didn’t have set hours or things to do.
Time lay ahead of me like a creative pathway waiting for me to fill it. I realised that how I used it, would be the thing that would make or break me.
At first, it felt like I had suddenly given myself up to holiday. But very quickly (about the time my second monthly pay cheque didn’t hit the bank account) I realised I hadn’t. When you work for yourself you start to realise the potent value of time – how you spend it, who you spend it with, how much of it you spend relaxing vs thinking vs doing, all becomes the difference between being both happy, and successful. In the past, time had just happened to me. Now, it was a commodity for value creation.
We all have a very special amount of time each year to invest. Holidays. That special time of year when we get to do all the things we want. Or do we?
When you think about your holiday ahead, have you considered;
1. How many hours will I spend doing things for others? The inevitable pull of needing to be there for friends and family, giving your time to them.
2. How many hours will I not account for? Those precious hours that must go to necessary down-time, sleeping, reading, gardening, golfing and pure relaxation?
But what about
3. How many hours will I consciously plan to enable creativity? The time you will set aside to let your brain drift into the new space that having time finally allows it. This is the most precious time.
Our brains are programmed habitually, and when we go on holiday we have to consciously break the habits. The need to do the things we always do – the routines and the rituals that get us through our everyday working life – make sure they stop and you replace that time with something better.
This holiday, let your brain go. Set aside time for conscious creativity. Draw, explore, imagine, write, research, observe, notate, and feel.
It’s like what breathing in through an oxygen mask will do for your body – conscious creativity feeds your brain with the minerals it needs to enable you to imagine all the things you thought you may never do, could never be, or might have believed possible.
This holiday, make sure you invest some of your precious time selfishly, specifically, in you. In conscious creativity. You never know where it might take you.
Happy Holidays and the wishing you the best of years in 2017.
