The three things you need to achieve anything

Time, energy, skills, oh my.....

So as we edge towards the end of January I want to offer to you a simple formula for you to consider -

ALL CHANGE IS DEPENDENT ON TIME +ENERGY+ SKILLS

Time is extremely temporal and is generally based on the importance of the perspective you place upon it. Time perspective relates to where you focus on when you make decisions and take actions - past, present or future.

Time perspective is a powerful influence on all aspects of our behaviour, and people tend to have one dominant time perspective.

There are five main sub-types of time perspective:

1. future,

2. past-negative,

3. past-positive,

4. present-hedonistic and

5. present-fatalistic.

The person who is predominantly future-oriented is concerned with working for future goals and rewards, often at the expense of present enjoyment, delaying gratification, and avoiding time-wasting temptations.

The past is associated with focus on family, tradition, continuity of self over time, and a focus on history. This can be either positive or negative. The Past-Positive person has a warm, pleasurable, often sentimental and nostalgic view of one’s past, and values maintaining relationships with family and friends. They love stories about the good old times. The Past-Negative person feels haunted by the past, focusing on personal experiences that were aversive or unpleasant.

The present-hedonistic person lives in the moment, is a pleasure seeker, enjoys high-intensity activities, seeks thrills and new sensations and loves adventures. Children are primarily present-hedonistically oriented. Present-hedonists are at risk of giving in to temptations, living in the now, instant gratification enthusiasts.

The present-fatalistic, is associated with helplessness, hopelessness and a belief that outside forces control one’s life, e.g. spiritual or governmental forces. Magical thinking abounds with this type of person, a sense of external locus of control.

Aim to have a more balanced time perspective.

What does it mean to have more balance?

People with a balanced time perspective are capable of adopting a temporal perspective appropriate to the situation they find themselves in. So when they spend time with their families and friends they are fully with them, connecting and enjoying each other. When they take a day off work, they can rest rather than feel restless.

Be aware of your time perspective, and where you need to work on it so that you can free up more of your time to do what you need to do to achieve your goals.

Energy is measured in both what we take in and give out.

Where does your energy go? Who benefits from it? What can you achieve with it?

These are important questions to consider.

If you want to make changes then you will need more energy to be able to disrupt the current unconscious patterns of behaviour, with conscious, intenful actions.

You need willpower, motivation and consistency.

These are not airy fairy, whymsical notions.

They are brain functions that require A LOT of energy.

To put it simply, if you do not plan for the energy needed then you will not have enough willpower, motivation and consistency to achieve the change you say you want.

Skills are a simple enough concept to accept. To achieve what we want to, we need to learn how to do it. How open to learning are you? How dedicated to being different are you?

What new skills do you need?

What current skills do you have?

What transferrable skills may be there?

How serious are you about this change and putting the time/energy/skills into ensuring that they happen?