Beyond the surface

“There’s no such thing as time management. You can’t manage time, time continues whether we like it or not… Really, there is only self-management.” —Rory Vaden

I cannot control time. However, what is done in time frames can be controlled and that’s where I rest my head for peace. I do not seek to extend my 24 hours, but within, I can bend time to my advantage — by the manage of my emotions, procrastination, preparation and much more into these motions. As you think, therefore you will be, as you project inside, you shall outwardly see. You cannot control time but you can control your mind and how you conduct yourself within the time we do have, accordingly.

Keynote Speaker Rory Vaden argues that time management doesn’t just come down to logic, emotions are involved too. In the course of one day, we are all granted the same amount of time: 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds. There are a lot of things on our to-do lists, but can we do it all? Is it time sensitive? Where does each one rank on priority? Vaden also reaffirmed this notion to me: when we say yes to one thing, we are simultaneously saying no to another, no matter what it may be—of course this works vice versa as well.

I sat and thought about the concept of time and how I literally cannot stop or pause it and whether or not I had enough time in my days. There wasn’t a precise answer but I understood all that goes into the concept and how there’s less logic with time management and more logic within the management of self.

There’s an interview that I’ve been talking about putting together for an artist. “Let me know when you have time bro,” he responded to me. But you see, it’s not about time, it’s more so if I have the emotional and mental stamina to put together this interview; preparation, procrastination and desire hold their weight in these situations. It also holds hands with the popular quote of “people make time for the people they want to see.”

It’s important to not void out emotional intelligence, for this intelligence has been researched to play effects in the workplace, relationships, friendships, productivity and the internal health of which you hold.

Emotional intelligence is the bread and butter of how your time will be managed. Build your foundation (emotional IQ) before you invite more energy in. To be able to recognize your own emotions as well as others, is what emotional intelligence is. It will guide you on your quest to achieving a goal, working with people and understanding yourself. When we don’t have an understanding, we create issues automatically for ourselves, one way or another.

If we can manage self and how we best work with time, then we gain more control over time–understanding that we’ll never fully control time—the logic becomes flexed and doesn’t allow full potential of your 24 hours.

Procrastination, motivation, energy, preparation and emotional expense all played a part in why I didn’t have much time at one point. From 2016 to this point in 2017, I’ve doubled my workload but I’ve worked on learning myself as a person, which increased my time. Writing tasks down also helped increase my productivity; learn yourself, increase your wealth of time.

Internet users worldwide are looking up “time management” and the numbers aren’t slowing down one bit. Over the course of the last five years, more than 48% of internet users looked up “time management.” Other than the one time during the week of Dec. 20 in 2015, the percentage has been over 50% each year. As recent as this current week of the 21-27, it’s rounding off to about 55%—minor fluctuations due to the continuous google searches though.

I expected time management to see numbers above 50%, but I was more interested in seeing was how much people looked into “self-management” through Google. To my surprise, 62% of internet users worldwide as of the current week of the 22-27 in May have looked up self-management. In fact, self-management searches haven’t seen numbers under 50% since late December of 2016. This number made me happy to see for a few reasons: 1. I strongly believe in internal definition. 2. It showed me that overall, perhaps people do believe in self-management over time management. There seems to be a flaw in the logic of time management, seeing as though you truly can’t manage time without knowing yourself first. You can’t manage a damn thing without knowing yourself first.

Lately, I’ve been paying attention to people say “I don’t have time.” Lately, I’ve been paying attention to myself, saying the same words. Personally, I do have time. However, do I want to make time for it? Do I have the emotional, mental and physical capability to get that specific task done? I look to self before I look to time. Time moves no matter what and we should to. We cannot buy more time into our days, but we can invest in our internal selves to create a better day.