The Stolen Present - and Taking it Back

6:30am.
Your alarm sounds - you roll over and begrudgingly pick it up to stop the noise.  Three text messages and a few Facebook notifications pop up from while you slept.  You check in and respond, noticing an article a friend posted on your newsfeed.  Youread through it, and click through to  another article that was linked at the bottom of the first.  Two plays on Words with Friends before a ‘quick’ check of instagram.  Double tap, flick, flick, double tap, double tap, comment, flick, double tap…  

-!!!-  “How is it already 6:55?? I haven’t even gotten out of bed!!"

Day and night we are constantly letting time slip by, completely unconsciously.  The harsh reality: we will never get that time back.  Ever.

New distractions are assaulting us everyday, this phenomenon isn’t going to let up.  And a few 25-min ‘rabbit holes’ aren’t the end of the world, but we often fail to see how quickly these small portions of time add up.  

It’s not the end of the world if you’re late to a meeting or miss out on a single opportunity.  But what about when it adds up?  You never even started the project you wanted to finish by now.  You still have not completed that degree.  You missed out on some of your child’s most instrumental years and your kid is suddenly grown up.  You find yourself in your final years of life, having let so much time go to waste.  Auto-pilot stole your time, your life.  

Practicing Timefulness will help you capture that time before it is gone.  It takes effort - a constant effort of being aware of your time and how you’re spending it.  But it can change your days, making them fuller and more satisfying.  And, over time, it can truly change your life because it encourages you to actually live it.  

The holiday season is upon us - many of us are fortunate to be able to spend it with family and friends that we love.  I encourage you to remember to frequently check in - not on Facebook or Twitter, but with yourself to make sure you are aware that these moments are all temporary so you need to cherish and enjoy them as they pass.  Unplug from the devices for a bit, enjoy the people and the scenery. 

Stay tuned for more on how to start practicing Timefulness.  Until then, enjoy the present.

 
Happy Holidays from DayPoint!

Mindfulness is Too Short: Introducing Timefulnes

We’ve all done it: Flipped on the autopilot switch as we go through part or all of our day.  Driven somewhere and hardly remember the drive.  Started with one click on YouTube or Reddit and fell down the ‘ole rabbit hole, only to emerge an hour later wondering what just happened.  

And we’ve all felt it: Regret that a day was wasted. Feeling unfilled by what we are doing.  Feeling like we never have enough time.  Feeling like we are constantly rushed or busy. 

On average, we get about 28,800 days to live.  If you’re 25 years old, you’ve already burned through over 9,000 of them.  So why do we let it slip by so easily?  Even worse, why do so many look for ways to ‘kill time’ or ‘pass the time’??  

Time truly is the only resource that over 7 billion people want more of but you cannot buy, yet so many of us let it slip by, go to waste, or take it for granted.

Mindfulness
The increasing practice of Mindfulness, a state of active, open attention on the present, is an amazing way to truly appreciate what you are currently doing - helping you actually live more in the same amount of time.  So many successful people that I look up to are strong advocates of mindfulness, including Arianna Huffington, who believes “there are no trade-offs between leading an effective life that will produce results and get stuff done and also being mindful and taking care of that deeper dimension of ourselves”.  

While there are many proven benefits to practicing mindfulness, only focusing on the present moment lacks context/bigger picture implications, which is why it will be equally as important to practice timefulness as well.

Timefulness
Ok, so what is timefulness?  Timefulness is the mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment and behavior (which can be actions, thoughts, or neither) while being aware of and acknowledging the recent and imminent passing of time in relation to how you are currently spending it.  It enables you to actually feel the ebb and flow of time - as well as time slipping by. 

This has so many benefits, including:

1. Helping you better decide how you allocate and spend your time so you don’t waste it 
2. Being more satisfied and fulfilled by your moments, hours, days, weeks, months, and years
3. Enabling you to spend your time with intention, not losing it to ‘time sucks’ that give you nothing in return
4. Comprehend and appreciate what a week is, a day, an hour, a minute…and what you can do with it

And it all starts with awareness.  We are working tirelessly to help bring you the tools that can help you become aware of the ever-present river of time.  

So stay tuned for more on timefulness and, in the meantime, see if you can start to become more aware of that feeling of time passing by - and what you recognize it, make sure you are fully appreciating this precious resource.

Take care,
Matt 

P.S. If you want to learn more about Timefulness, please let us know.