Get Time On Your Side – Is Time Your Friend or Foe?

Manage the transition of time this weekend with some tips from NLP.

As the clocks go back this weekend marking an end to British Summer Time and reverts to Greenwich Mean Time we can look forward to more sunlight in the mornings along with getting an extra hour in bed. How do you feel about this and does time work for you or against you?

In Business, its either our friend or foe. The golden factor which cannot be altered, we only have a fixed amount of hours in a day to do all that needs to be done. What’s consistently on the list of top challenges business owners face? Time!

Are you more in the moment, just in time or even behind time? Are you always ‘on the minute’ to get to meetings, events or dates? When your teenager says in response to tidying up their room “I’ll do it in a minute” do they really?

Or do you care about being ahead of time and hate being late when meeting friends, going to appointments, dates or events? What happens if you get stressed, is it in relation to time?

Not Enough Hours In The Day!

Who says they “don’t have enough time” or there’s “just not enough hours in the day?” I always wonder what they might do with extra hours – if there were any. I hear this from Clients who are Coaches, Leaders and Business Owners most of whom have completed various courses in time management. For those of us who work for ourselves who may not have a team, the challenge of  covering all the areas of the business (the right areas) can be significant in what we spend our precious time on. This requires a flexibility of mindset to ensure balance and maintain focus on direction of travel as well as understanding our relationship with time.

What Is Our Relationship With Time?

For some of us it seems very close to us (in its proximity), meaning we take notice of ‘now’ in the moment and as near as before and after. Events which are further away in relation to the past or future are not as relevant as is now.

How is this a problem? As we are more in the moment it can be really challenging to be on time, no matter what we do such as setting alarms, moving clocks forward, we can still end up on the minute or turning up after events have started. This can be frustrating in work and life. Maybe some friends know this and even arrange to meet you earlier than stated. Just think about all the energy that’s invested into the last minute rush, it can be so draining!

There are positives; a closer relationship with time is extremely useful for crises and immediate responses requiring action. For those in fast paced roles (for example working with emergencies) and those in business, being comfortable making immediate, decisive responses can make the difference.

For others, time is further away from us (in its proximity) which allows us to take more notice of past, present and future, we call this ‘through time’.

How is this a problem? It can be challenging when planned events don’t go to plan and an immediate response is required. As we take more notice of time we can find our attention focused on events from the past or future to the detriment of our wellbeing, anxiety for example. In comparison, there are those who can feel ‘stuck’ living in the past.

There are positives, planning is more important and much easier offering a sense of control. From a business and leadership perspective being prompt for meetings and appointments in the western hemisphere is generally expected. How would the health service run if appointments were not attended when agreed (or as near as). First impressions count on dates, what if you were late for your first on or off line date? (What if you were both late – something in common!) Birthdays, anniversaries and other significant events are less likely to be missed.

How Can We Make A Difference?

Good news is it’s not black and white as we all have our own relationship with time so we can have some characteristics of both. Some of us adapt and  learn to operate using both depending on the context we are in and some of us can struggle to. Students during our NLP Enhanced Practitioner and Hypnotherapy Training get to work on themselves throughout the course. One of the key coaching areas are learning and working with time based problems. Time based problems such as anxiety, guilt, living in the past, fears, or phobias. Through this they discover their own relationship with time and how to use this with purpose and change it to benefit the situation. 

Imagine how this can help if you are frustrated by being late for meetings no matter what methods and multiple alarms you employ. Or alternatively if you are frustrated by not being able to be present in relationships at home, when at work or in sport.

It can be beneficial to develop our awareness and understanding to spend more time on the least used approach to stretch our flexibility. It may be that some of us do this already creating a coping strategy if work or home requires the opposite of our usual approach to time.

For those of us who are ‘in time’ using the opposite approach (through time – paying more attention to being more organised and planning) can be helpful.  Weddings, family routines, school run, taxiing children to events, all require some form of organisational planning and a tighter awareness of time rather than what can become a more stressful ‘last minute’ approach. 

For those of us who are more ‘through time’ it can be refreshing to use the opposite approach to be more present in now. We can do this simply by disconnecting ourselves and many tech devices from time.  For example if going on holiday, take the watch off and leave at home, avoid using other devices such as mobiles. This can also work for example at weekends. Whenever is the last working day take the opportunity to ‘disconnect’ from your devices as soon as you have finished and just go with the flow!