For months, I had a post-it note placed on my laptop that read “TIME is the ENEMY”. I had designed the poster one fateful afternoon sometime at the start of the quarantine period back in March of last year. I remember sitting at my desk in my room overwhelmed by the numerous tasks across different spheres of my life that I had to get to, many of them were screaming “urgent” and some with pressing deadlines.

The post-it notepad was lying within reach and without giving it much thought, I spontaneously grabbed the notepad and began sketching out a thought I had nurtured for a while before then. I only caught myself halfway into putting down the sentence. I subsequently decided to create a personal reminder of the notion by sticking it to my laptop – which I spend a lot of time on.

You can bet it attracted some attention. Almost everyone who came around and saw the note seemed to be curious about what I meant by the statement and a few found it downright hilarious. Every time someone asked, I gladly narrated to them how I had a million and one things to achieve and little or no time to get through all of it. While some folks found my explanation interesting and commendable, others argued that it was that way only because I wasn’t approaching things from the right perspective. They claimed I could make it a friend instead of an enemy.

I wasn’t sure how exactly this could be done and I simply couldn’t understand how I could change the status of something I have no control over. I mean, I was the victim of time’s cruel constraints — or so I thought, and could do little or nothing about it. It was an inconclusive matter.

The Epiphany

Everything changed in the summer when I picked up “Atomic Habits” by James Clear (Highly recommend). One little paragraph right there in the first chapter of the book was all it took to solve my unresolved puzzle. In order not to undermine the message by any means, I’ll just go ahead and quote the paragraph below:

“Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.”

– James Clear (Atomic Habits)

A little digress…

If you aren’t in the habit of reading books or at least trying to build one, you are missing out on a lot of treasure. I noted how much value is tucked away in books in one of my previous blog posts – “2020 Book of the Year”, and I thought it was worth reiterating here as well.

Back to the topic…

Inaction, the True Enemy

It’s a new year and as always, many of us are about goal setting and related stuff. We have probably come up with a list of things we want to achieve in the year and we are pumped about it. Good as that is, history has proven that most of what we outline in the heat of the excitement of a new year ends up being only good on paper. This is largely because we are mostly focused on the destination, neglecting the fact that it takes a process to go from where we currently are to where we hope to be. You cannot ignore the journey and hope to arrive at the destination. More important than setting those lofty goals is creating a system that allows you to consistently take steps towards achieving them.

Now, creating a system involves many things, but my emphasis would be on habits and how important they are in achieving your set goals. Writing down all the fancy results we desire can be quite exciting, but at the same time, considering that it takes a lot of work required to get tangible results, it can be extremely daunting to take any actions towards our envisioned goal. This is where time either becomes your ally or your enemy, depending on how you relate to it.

Make Time Your Ally

It is necessary to break down those huge goals into small actionable habits that aren’t so overwhelming. That way, you are more motivated to do act on them and over time, the little input would compound to become the big things you envisioned from the start.

What daily/weekly habits are you cultivating to ensure you are constantly moving towards your goal? What structure have you put in place to ensure you stay on track with your goals throughout the year? How are you managing your time? Any accountability system? Or are you just going with the flow?

Truth is, being passive and leaving things to chance without proper structuring is equal to failing before you even begin. From experience, not being intentional about your pursuit leads to frustration when the set goal doesn’t come to be. The surest way to guarantee a positive outcome to all your goals is by building the right habits and staying consistent with them. The principles of compound effect would take care of the rest.

Are you making time an Ally or an Enemy?

HAVE AN AMAZING 2021!