The funny thing about time is that we tend to think it’s ours. This claim on time is why we try to manage it, take control of it, spend it wisely.
Time is more than just a resource we use, waste, or stress over. Time is the page on which our narrative unfolds. We live in time and through time – time is the invisible landscape of our experiences.
It is through time that we understand now, what is happening around us, what we are thinking and feeling. It is in time that we hold memories of what is past. Further, it is through time that we imagine a future of what will be.
While we often think of time as ours to manage, it is actually our experience within time that we have some control over.
Time will pass with or without us managing it. We don’t need to have the day planned or tasks to complete in order for morning to shift to afternoon to shift to night.
Rather than trying to manage time, we are actually trying to manage our experiences as they occur in time. We want to complete this task within this chunk of time. We have this set point in time that we are supposed to arrive to an appointment. After work we have dinner plans for the evening.
Before, after, during, early, late, on time. We create language to understand how we are moving through time. This helps us comprehend our experiences within time.
Rushed, bored, anticipatory, in the moment. We describe our states of being as they relate to our movement through time.
We spend time with…(family, friends, colleagues, classmates, mentors, pets, etc.).
We spend time at…(school, work, home, events, church, etc.).
We spend time…(eating, sleeping, working, socializing, networking, cleaning, shopping, reading, listening, dreaming, communicating, watching television, exercising, etc.).
All of this to emphasize that we exist through experience, and we have learned to describe our existence through language that relates to time.
Time valuation awareness coaching (which I often shorten to time awareness coaching for simplicity,) is based on the idea that we experience time as more than just a resource. We experience time as the language of our narratives, the foundation of our realities, and the landscape in which we experience life.
That being said, time valuation awareness coaching is not about time management and finding ways to spend our time as productively as possible. Time valuation awareness coaching is about exploring our experiences and articulating how we value experiencing time.
Do we value experiences with family, or time at work? Do we enjoy cooking or exercising or travel? What do we dread having to do? When do we like to zone out and what do we do to unwind?
How do we imagine our futures? How do we explain and tell stories about our pasts? How do we describe our presents?
Through coaching we come to understand that time is going to pass no matter what.
If we’re happy with our past, bored with our present, scared about our future – time is going to continue to move.
If we’re upset about something, if we feel we’re making mistakes and not getting anywhere in life, time is going to continue to pass.
If we have dreams and ideas of what we want our lives to be and what we want to achieve, but don’t know how to make these things happen, you guessed it, time is going to continue on regardless of what we do about it.
And so, if we feel stuck or upset or lost or on the brink of something amazing, but never do anything about it, time is going to pass and we will feel that same way a year, five years, ten years from now.
Similarly, if we feel happy or fulfilled or excited or successful, but never do anything to understand why we feel this way or find ways to maintain these states, these feelings may dwindle and we’ll be left confused why they didn’t stay.
We can’t change the fact that time is going to pass. But we can decide what we want to do with our experiences in that time.
We can choose to better understand what’s important to us and what we want to do in our lives so we can cultivate our current and future experiences and feel confident and aware of ourselves as time continues on.
Curious to learn more about life coaching? Think maybe life coaching is a good investment for you? Take a peek at 6 Signs You Could Benefit From Life Coaching and check out the various coaching programs I offer.