By María Murillo
The idea that time passes by quickly, is nothing new, as most people affirm that they “don’t have enough time” for many things, that too much attention must be given towards the roles we choose to play in life. Professionals, sons, parents, brothers, friends, spouses, leaders, guides, colleagues…
In some instances, one role implies several different responsibilities. In others, there can be many areas, hobbies or talents that we would like to put in practice. However, days seem too short to do so, because of the important factor called TIME.
What can we do to focus? What are some of the principal elements to consider to FINISH what we START?
We are going to consider eight “I’s” that are essential, if we want TODAY and every other day of our lives to have meaning, being able to be much more focused, and allowing everything to flow to the rhythm that we truly desire.
- Identify the essentials: What are the essentials? That which has VALUE, in fact, our VALUES, is what is important, and what gives MEANING to our life. That which has a relevant meaning to us. What are our priorities?
- Identify the rest: You can make a list of all your to-dos and divide it in ESSENTIAL and the REST. There will be many to-dos that are not necessarily essential.
- Information: All that we are exposed to during the day. Television, Internet, radio, books, even conversations with others. Do we expose ourselves to information, or do we exchange information with others, that goes with what we consider ESSENTIAL? Or, on the contrary, is most of the information that we decide to access, part of the REST (that which is not essential to us)?
- Interpretation: Our belief system, consciously or unconsciously, translates information as either relevant, or less relevant. Our beliefs become a filter of sorts, that makes it so we interpret something as either good or bad, interesting or boring, possible or impossible. This happens with each challenge and situation that we face day by day.
- Intuition: Intuition is that immediate perception of an idea. There are some who let themselves be guided by the impressions of others, that has nothing to do with their own intuition. Knowing to listen to our own body, our true self, the internal voice that allows to, “without thinking”, comprehend what we’re living or about to live. This becomes a very powerful tool, always there as a part of our inner wisdom, never wrong whatever the apparent result is.
- Intention: Are we determined to carry out that which has value to us? Do we know how to set forth our will towards our dreams? At the start of the day, do we have an idea of what we want to accomplish or where we’re headed? How can we take QUALITY decisions? These are some of the questions we can ask ourselves to define day by day, our INTENTION.
- Initiative: After making sure what our intentions are, we need to go into ACTION. Putting our project in motion is what INITIATIVE is, and taking care of the things that are in our control.
- Influence: Each one of us, with our “grain of sand”, is influencing and changing our environment continuously, whether we want to or not. The intent should be to influence in positive ways: building, contributing, giving, facilitating, sharing, and helping everything in the world to progress and evolve for the better.
Our main task however, is to start with ourselves, identify the essentials, and then focus on the rest.
Hands on!
