If you have ever heard yourself saying that “I’ve got no time…” or other versions of it, read on.
It was one of my early sessions with a leadership coach, some years ago. We started talking about busy lives and how I could not complete the required pre-reading before our discussion. “I couldn’t find time…” was my response.
She smiled, and said: “Sid, if you’d said, ‘the dog ate my pre-read’, I could have believed you.” She paused. She was really good at pauses, sometimes too long for my liking then. “We all have the same amount of time, 24 hours, no more, no less. You, me, Bill Gates, you-name-anyone.”
I had never thought of it that way before then. It was never about not having the time. It was about choice. A conscious choice, a willing choice.
I’ve had many conversations about reading with various people. Many times, I heard “I’ve got no time for reading.” It astonishes me every time that there is a widely held view that one needs hours in a single sitting to read. People don’t believe that they can read at least four books a year by just reading 10-15 minutes a day. The same logic applies to any activity, not necessarily reading. I am yet to find someone who says they cannot find 10-15 minutes in their awake hours.
This brings up another important question. What are you saying yes to and what are you saying no to?
Here is an interesting view:
Seth Godin on Opportunity Cost
If you don’t have the time to listen to the podcast (pun intended!), here’s something to ponder from it:
Time is one of the only things that’s truly under our control
-Seth Godin
Sid Kumar 