Lose the Excuses: "I Don't Have Time"

Time. I know. I know. You don't have enough of it. Between the kids, the carpool, the job, the commute, the cooking, the cleaning, the in-laws, the neighbors, the dog, and the cat, there simply isn't any time left for you. Or is there?

Let's say, it's 9:15 on a Monday morning. As you sip your coffee, you review your week. It's packed. Meetings to attend. Presentations to make. Reports to complete. Interviews to conduct. There are kids to carpool. Practices to attend. A recital. A game. A birthday party to plan. A networking event you helped coordinate and a potluck that popped up at the last minute. Plus there is shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, church, other family obligations, cars that need to be serviced and the list goes on and on. Every day this week is full and that includes the weekend!

Five minutes later, the phone rings. It's Stacy London co-host of What Not to Wear. Instead of bringing you to New York City for a week, she's coming to your town tomorrow. And, it gets better, instead of giving you a $5,000 shopping spree, she's coming with $10,000. The catch is that you have to do it tomorrow and they need you all day.

I'm willing to bet that you would find a way to make it happen.

You would delegate. You would enlist the help of co-workers, husband and even kids to move some of that stuff off of your place.

You would say no. You would turn down the offer to help with another potluck for work. You would tell another parent that you could not do the carpool this week.

You would focus. You would get twice as much work done in half the time by minimizing the interruptions and cutting out a lot of the small talk and extra fluff.

You would get organized. You'd pull out the planner and get busy rescheduling, planning, and coordinating your days.

You might even change your schedule. You would be willing to get up a little bit earlier or stay up a bit later to get it done.

The fact of the matter is that you would make it happen because the end result - a $10,000 shopping spree is important to you. Not doing it would not be an option.

Are the things you want important enough to you? You can start delegating, saying no, getting organizing and focusing right now. If it's important enough, you can find the time.