Decide You’re Caught Up

16 Aug Decide You’re Caught Up

Decide you’re caught up. “Catching up/Stolen moment” by Jeff Drongowski is something I would do once I decided I was caught up and my time was my own. I hope this post helps you get moments like this. Remember they’re not stolen: they all belong to you!

Hot Tip: Decide You’re Caught Up

When I’m stressing about time, I decide that I’m caught up. Here’s my advice about this hot tip: why, how and when to use it.

Why to Decide

Reason #1: The fact is if we left the planet tomorrow, we’d be caught up. The world would go on.

Reason #2 to decide is how it makes you feel. Like all your time is your own and you can choose what to do with it.*

Reason #3 is that this tip helps you use your time better. (See the next section.)

Reason #4: This is a blog about money. Time and money are not the same thing, but we tend to equate them. So this is an abundance tip for having more time as well as more money.

How to Decide

1. 1. Catch yourself rushing to catch up and STOP. In your tracks.
   2. If you can, sit down. Or do something that tells your body: we’re relaxing now. Take a deep breath and then another. Take yourself out for tea.
   3. After whatever of #2 you can do, literally, tell yourself (out loud or quietly): “I’m caught up. I can stop rushing. If I left the planet right now, nothing more of this would happen and the world would keep turning.”
   4. Let that sink in while you keep doing whatever you can of #2.
   5. Make a new choice about how to spend this moment, the next few moments, and the rest of your day. Schedule it with yourself. Use this little interval of feeling caught up to map out a more spacious use of your time.
   6. Repeat.

How to Make Your Decision Stick

You may have to practice a bit to convince yourself of your own decision. Practice makes perfect.

It may take a while to convince other people you mean it. If you model it, and practice it, they will not only get it; they might even try it themselves.

Notice I’m not saying “Slack off. Do nothing.” Although if that’s what you hear me saying, ok, I am saying it: take a break! Schedule it if you need to. (I do).

I’m saying, RESET. Act as if. And see what a difference it makes, this one little shift.

Your time is your wealth. One of my all-time favorite wise poems is this one. The lines relevant to this post are

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

I can’t emphasize enough how important this is. It’s all yours, your time.

*Technically, you are choosing again: you made a choice in the first place, but let me not quibble.