How to Make Time for Your Goals and Dreams

Vladilles and the Tortoise were sitting at a table at Tortoise’s place.

Vladilles: Gee, Mr. T, thanks for inviting me over!
Tortoise: No problem. It’s been a while since we saw each other, and when you called me the other day, asking me for advice on why you never seem to have time for your goals, I thought I might as well invite you over and demonstrate it personally.
Vladilles: Awesome!

(Tortoise offers Vladilles a cup of coffee)

Tortoise: Here, take this cup of coffee.
Vladilles: Thanks Mr. T, but you know I don’t drink coffee!
Tortoise: No, no, that’s okay, I just want to use it to demonstrate something.
Vladilles: That’s very nice of you, but I really don’t drink coffee!
Tortoise: No, don’t worry about that. Just take it.

(Vladilles takes the cup, eyeing it suspiciously.)

Tortoise: Now, let’s assume you wanted some more coffee…
Vladilles: Whoa, hold on a second! Let’s not assume anything like that. I don’t want any more coffee… I didn’t even want this coffee in the first place!
Tortoise: Yes, yes, don’t worry, my point is…
Vladilles: No! Of course I worry! You’re making me assume I want coffee and that just doesn’t–
Tortoise: Aaargh! Just listen, okay? Let’s say you want more coffee, but the cup you’re holding is already almost full. Now–
Vladilles: Well, of course it’s full, I haven’t drank any–
Tortoise: NOW… you still decide to add more coffee.

(Over Vladilles’ muttering, Tortoise takes a kettle and starts pouring more coffee into the cup Vladilles is holding. It spills over the sides, and yet Tortoise keeps pouring. After a few seconds, he stops.)

Tortoise: Now, what does this show?
Vladilles: That you just spilled boiling hot coffee on my hand!
Tortoise: Yes, but apart from that…
Vladilles: Oh, great, now it’s dripping off the table onto my trousers. I just washed them yesterday! Oh, and did I mention my hand–
Tortoise: IT SHOWS that if you want to add more coffee to the cup, you have to empty it first. So…
Vladilles: Aaaargh! The coffee dripping off the table is still boiling hot! And my hand–
Tortoise: SO before you can worry about adding any more coffee, you need to find a way to empty the old coffee out to make some space.

(Vladilles curses and lets go of the cup, which shatters and spills boiling hot coffee all over the table and off the sides. Both he and Tortoise jump up to avoid the spilling coffee, then get some rugs to clean up the mess. Afterwards, they sit back down at the table.)

Tortoise: So, what did you learn today?
Vladilles: I learned that next time, I’ll make you answer my question over the phone!

…

While Tortoise’s metaphor was lost on Vladilles, you probably caught most of what was going on.

The coffee cup represents your week, and the coffee represents all the goals and actions you do that week.

Now, we humans have a funny habit of keeping our cups near full. Unless you’re a guru on a mountain who spends 5 hours a day meditating, you probably fill up most of your free time with your hobbies and stuff like watching TV or browsing the web.

Now let’s say you come up with a great idea for a novel, and decide to start writing. But you can’t seem to find the time! In the afternoon, there’s a TV show you just have to watch, then in the evening, you really need to read your e-mails, check various news sites and catch up on your RSS feeds, because otherwise you might be out of touch with current events! And at the end of the week, you wonder why you haven’t written anything for your novel.

That’s like taking a cup that’s already full, and trying to pour more coffee in. It just won’t work.

Even worse, your cup is often mostly full of cold, stale coffee, but you don’t realize you first need to let go of it to get that fresh, delicious, hot, fragrant coffe.

We humans often get stuck doing the same things week after week, simply out of habit, or a false sense of obligation. We keep our cups full of stale old coffee because it seems like too much effort to pour some of it out. Or we don’t even realize we could pour it out!

So here are some questions for you:

• What would you love to be doing, but don’t seem to have the time?
• What do you keep doing every week out of habit, even though you don’t really enjoy it that much?
• What things do you have to do every week? Do you really HAVE to do all of them?
• How would your life be different if you replaced some of your habitual actions by working on your life’s dreams?

The answers to those questions might surprise you. Use them well.