Living Well. Aligning your time and your values.
By: Shawn Todd, CFP
There are lots of ways to spend your time.
In fact, I find there is just no end to how we can use it. It can be spent reading, hiking, watching TV, time with friends, playing boardgames with your family, a sport you love, or you can literally watch time pass doing very little – if you choose to.
When I spend time with a variety of business owners, or growth minded clients – having a conversation about what is most important to them, a majority of time they will always write down that family is the most important thing to them. Everything they have built or spend time doing during their day – is all done with the intention in appreciating, supporting, or helping their family. This makes sense – it is their most cherished part of their life.
Surprisingly, even though all the activities they are doing are meant to help their family, this is not necessarily where they are spending their time. This speaks to me as I’m also guilty of this. I’m going to give full credit to my spouse Michele for showing me a great values exercise that came up in conversation a few years ago.
When wanting to consider if you the time you are spending in your life aligns with your values – then write out two columns. Write your values and things that are important to you – in one column. Write where you are spending your time in the second column. Rate each of the values that you have on a scale of 1-10. How important is being dependable to you? Love? Health? Self-Improvement?
Now compare what is most important to you, to how you are spending your time. Are they aligned? If not, are there areas of your life that you need to reconsider or change? Do you need to consider adjusting some of your routines, or being more focused in other areas?
Spending time reviewing my own values, and they way I spend my own time has allowed me to begin [its not perfect yet] aligning my time with what is most important to me.
Living well begins with ensuring you are spending your time doing the things that will best advance your life in the way you really wish it was moving. This exercise may help as you contemplate your life goals now, and in the future.
In a recent article “97% of retirees with a strong sense of purpose were generally happy, compared with 76% without that sense” – the Retirement Manifesto 2023
Even spending time reading this article is conscious decision on how you wish to spend your time. Should I read this article, or should I go for a walk outside?
There is no end to how we spend our time, and I hope this helps in all of our efforts in spending our time well.
Just my thoughts for the day.
Shawn Todd CFP – Partner – ECIVDA