My doubts get loud whenever I think about time.
At the start of the week, as I look ahead at what I would like to get done, I hear three different voices:
- You don’t have enough time.
- It’s too late.
- You’re too far behind to catch up.
When confronted with those doubts, I have two options:
- Hope they go away on their own.
- Fight them head on.
I spent years hoping number one would happen. Maybe doubt would get tired of bothering me? Maybe there was someone else doing more meaningful work that needed harassment. Perhaps I would wake up one day and find that all my doubts had vanished.
That has not happened.
So, I had to fight my doubts, to meet them on the battlefield of a Monday morning and push them back once more so that I can write books, run a business, be a father, be a husband, give speeches, serve clients and a thousand other things.
How do I do that?
With facts.
Doubts hate facts.
When doubt tells me I’m out of time, I do one simple thing:
I look at my calendar.
I say, “That’s not true. Look how much week or month or even year I have left. There’s a ton of white space that I get to fill up. I’m not out of time.”
Whenever I miss some goal in January, I look at my calendar and say, “Aha! But, there’s February and March and I even see an October waiting for me you scallywag!” (Doubt also hates when you use pirate jargon.)
I need a huge reminder on my wall of how much time I really have to work on the things I care about the most.
I love the calendar for a lot of other reasons. It’s dry erase, it’s beautifully designed, the weeks are organized Monday – Sunday instead of Sunday – Saturday and it’s a great catch all for all the things I’m working on.
But the real reason I’ve used it for 9 years is that it reminds me of the truth.
I have more time than doubt wants me to believe and you do, too.
Today, you can add a new weapon to your arsenal against doubt. It’s 25% off and will give you a simple way to remind yourself of the truth.
There’s a year waiting for you. Go out and live it without doubts.