If you don't have time, make time

What's the one word you can think of that stops you from achieving a dream you have, a goal you've set your sights on, a task you'll feel great taking on? Lack of financing? That's always a possibility but it is possible to borrow from the bank. No, I'm talking about something which you cannot create. Time.

There are only 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a week. As much as many of us desire there to be more hours available, it just cannot happen. So often as human beings the focus is on the here and now with time. What needs to be done today? Are the kids ok to get to school? Who will take up most of my time at work today? What will I cook for dinner tonight? Should I finish this work or leave it until tomorrow? Bed time, already? And just like that you're in bed pondering thoughts about the many things which were left undone. The e-mails from friends, the 100,000 piece jigsaw puzzle which hasn't been touched for months, a 20 minute trip to the gym. Then, without second guessing you whisper to yourself "I just don't have the time."

Anybody who says that is waving a white flag in their defence. Saying you don't have enough time is not true and people who utter those six words know it. Too often we devote a huge amount of time towards pointless pursuits. Watching TV, surfing the net, video games, eating, and even procrastinating. Think about how much time you decote towards these activities in which you achieve very little. To say you don't have enough time for your big goals in life is a lie. The reason you do not have time is you're not determined to make the time needed to achieve these goals. What are your big goals? I have several at the moment but the longest boat ride is getting a University degree. One thing which is essential to success with tertiary studies is never ever falling behind. If I don't get around to doing a reading or working on an assignment during the day for whatever reason, the opportunity cost is staying up late and catching up on those readings or assingments and sleeping less. You can't eat an orange in one bite. It must be slow and steady. It's the same with any University Degree. There are going to be times in life where time seems to be stretched but it's up to you whether or not your long term goals come first. 24 hours may not seem like a lot but in a year there are 8760 hours. If you seriously want to improve your physique then making 187.5 hours in the year to achieve that doesn't seem so bad. If you want to stay in touch with friends who live far away, setting aside 60 hours a year leaves you feeling more accomplished as a person than any TV programme can. If you are married with children, wake up an hour earlier every morning and work on that puzzle. Who wouldn't be proud of their mother completing an extremely huge jigsaw puzzle.

Make time for yourself and before you know it, you will be ticking major goals off and you can smile, knowing you made time for yourself to achieve that goal. The bigger the goal, the more rewarding the completion of it feels. Dive in head first knowing you can do it because you can make time for it.

Set the Bar High and Jump

One of the most important things anyone can encourage you to do is have high expectations for yourself and others. A huge bearing on the kind of person people think we are before meeting us is based on our friend circle. It doesn't matter what great things you may have done or currently are doing , if they don't know about it, the company you keep determines the box you've been slotted into in those person's eyes. Just one reason you need to set the bar high and jump until you make it.

Life is going to throw all sorts of curve balls at you and often the rug will be ripped out from under you. Only you can decide on how you're going to react in this instance. Stay down and out and the bar will be low and it'll be too easy jumping over it; doing things you already know you're good at, procrastinating and eternally feeling sorry for yourself. Don't ever let that happen to you... when society sees someone down, they'll poke their ugly head through the door, point their grimy, snot filled fingers and say "I told you so."

I was recently gutted when a girl I like announced she had a boyfriend. I have been her friend for well over a year and realised quite quickly how challenging it would be to convince her I'm Mr. Right. Now she's taken, the fondness I have for her remains; she's still terrific and a true delight to be around and I know that other people can see this too. Her character is one where being around her makes you a better person and in turn your expectations of what to expect in a friend or partner get raised. Her bar is always high.

The crowd will never clap someone that is jumping at half their potential because so many people have come before you and done that. It never feels good when you know you're capable of so much more but you're stuck in a realm of self doubt with a low bar. Crowds want to see something special. The most elated feeling is when the bar seems to be unjumpable and people are unsure whether or not you'll make it but you've worked hard at this goal, you've put in the dedication, commitment, and enthusiasm needed to succeed and when you've made it, enjoy the moment but then tell yourself "I can go higher."