Time management:The Power of Purpose

Time management:The Power of Purpose

In the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day lives, rarely do we pause to consider our life’s Purpose. We’re much too busy running errands, jumping on Zoom meetings, or picking up groceries to ponder whether we’re living according to our Purpose. Who has time for that?

However, good time management is impossible without clearly knowing what matters most to you. If we skip past Purpose and instead dive straight into all the time management hacks (creating an Ideal Week, setting goals, and doing all the things that seem like quick fixes), we might accidentally quick fix our way into living a life we don’t love.

If you don’t take the time to define what’s most important to you—your Purpose (which as we will learn is made up of your Vision and Values), your days and your life will be spent living someone else’s Purpose.

I learned this the hard way. The beginning pages of nearly every planner I’ve ever purchased are filled with exercises that walk you through your Vision and goals for the year ahead and ask you to consider how you want to spend your year and what you hope to accomplish. Without fail, I skipped over these pages every time and got to work filling in my appointments and to-dos. (How many of you are with me here?)

And then, I wondered why I felt constantly swept up in a sea of meaningless obligations and resentful of requests for my time!

Instead of living with Purpose, I was living in default mode.

What’s default mode? That’s the way you feel when you’re just going through the motions. You go to work and come home, following the equivalent of a well-worn path through your life. In default mode, you do things because that’s the way you’ve always done them and you’re likely so caught up in making everyone else happy that along the way you’ve lost touch with what you actually wanted out of life.

So, what do you want out of life?

That question might seem too big to answer now, but by the end of this chapter you’ll have a response that gets you excited to get out of bed each day.

YOUR PURPOSE = YOUR VISION + VALUES

To get started, it’s important to understand that your Purpose revolves around two things: your Vision and your Values. Your Vision is what you want your life to look like in the future. Your Values represent your highest priorities and deeply held beliefs. Together, your Vision and your Values anchor every decision you make about how to spend your time.

Still not clear on what separates your Vision from your Values? Think of it this way: If your Vision is the mental picture of the future you hope to create for yourself, your Values are the guiding principles that help you chart your course to that future. Your Vision gives you a direction to move in, and your Values influence the choices you make along the path to that Vision.

In this chapter, we’ll define your big Vision for the future and articulate your Values through exercises, examples, and more. Let’s kick off our Purpose work by clarifying your Vision.

about Dr Saeed Javizadeh

Dr. Saeed javizadeh, director and founder of Iran Coaching Center, is one of the most prominent experts and lecturers of time management courses in Iran. With several books published in the field of time management, he is known as one of the mysterious and effective people in this field.

By holding workshops and training classes throughout Iran, Dr. Saeed javizadeh has provided the foundation for learning and personal development and business development through time management and optimization. By presenting 10 golden techniques and 6 strategies related to time management, he offers participants a new power to control and manage time.

Dr. Saeed javizadeh provides the participants with the creative tools to get the most out of their time and focus on their goals, like a seasoned expert

YOUR VISION

Whether you’re baking a cake, building a house, or envisioning your ideal life, we have to think about things before we can create them. Cakes begin with recipes. Homes are built with blueprints. Both begin as ideas—as someone’s Vision. The same goes for your ideal life. You can’t live your dream life unless you first articulate what exactly your dream life actually is! Whether you want a successful career, thriving business, happy family, or strong relationship, you’ve got to imagine what that successful career, thriving business, happy family, or strong relationship actually looks like so you can pursue it.

When you make a conscious effort to picture what you want in your mind—although it may seem like you’re not really doing anything—you’re actually taking control of your life and your circumstances.

Your Vision Guides Your Decisions and Gives You Hope

When you have a clear Vision, it becomes easier to make choices about how to spend your time—whether to accept a certain job, make a big move, or go out on that date—because either the choice fits into your Vision or it doesn’t.

Having a Vision isn’t just about having clarity around big decisions. Your Vision drives the small ones, too. If your Vision includes being a homeowner, your daily decisions might include checking in with your budget to make sure you’re on track to hit your down payment goal. If your Vision includes having a successful business, you’re more likely to stick to your business plan instead of going rogue, overspending, or throwing your to-do list out the window and heading to the golf course.

When you have a crystal-clear picture of what you want the future to look like, it’s easier to make decisions that get you closer to making that future a reality.

It also gives you hope. Hope boosts your happiness, makes you more productive, and improves your health and well-being. It can even help you live longer. Hope gives you something to be excited about. When you’re excited, your happiness increases and your health improves. You feel like life’s worth living because you’re heading somewhere.

How Do You Capture a Vision?

Now that we know the importance of a Vision and that it’s a mental picture of what we want our future to look like, how exactly do we capture that? It’s not as if we can send mental snapshots to the one-hour photo lab like we did with our bright yellow Kodak disposable cameras back in the 1990s. Instead, our Vision must be captured in other ways.

Whether you articulate your Vision in a succinct Vision statement, write a letter to yourself from “future you,” or get crafty and create a Vision board, capturing your Vision so that it has a home outside of your daydreams is a critical step. That being said, regardless of how you capture it, your Vision is a description of the future you hope to create for yourself.

It’s also important to realize that your Vision is personal to you. It can be big-picture and long-term (encompassing all aspects of your personal life, work, relationships, and health) or more immediate and short-term (for something like your travel plans in the upcoming year). Your Vision can live in a bulleted list, divided up into different categories. Your Vision might be written out in paragraph form. It can be a scribbled stream of consciousness in the pages of your journal, or it can be neatly typed in a Google Doc.

If you’ve ever felt intimidated by the thought of creating a Vision for your life, I hope the exercises below help you tremendously and give you a sense of relief. There’s no one right way to create a Vision, and in the following exercises, you can test-drive different methods for clarifying and capturing your Vision.

Exercise 1: The Story of You

What kind of life do you hope to look back on as you near the end of your days? What kind of stories do you want to tell? Will you have experiences and adventures that depict a life well-lived? Or, will you look back with regret over the things you didn’t do, the missed opportunities, or the choices you made based on what everyone else wanted for you or from you.

Picture yourself, decades from now. Maybe you’re in your 80s, sitting on your front porch in a rocking chair, enjoying a glass of lemonade. I like to imagine myself on our back patio at home, sipping sweet tea with a fluffy dog in my lap, watching the sunset with my husband, Scott. Maybe you’ll picture yourself on a Jet Ski in Mexico or floating above Paris in a hot-air balloon. Regardless of where you are, get that picture in your mind right now.

Set the scene. What are you wearing? Are you listening to music? What time of day is it? What’s the weather like? Put yourself as vividly into the future as you can.

Next, picture yourself chatting with someone in that setting. It could be your spouse, your children, a good friend, a neighbor, or someone else important to you. As you sit together, you reminisce and tell stories from the past, stories about the full life you’ve led.

Suddenly, a car drives up and a young woman steps out of the car and walks up to greet you. She’s a biographer, and she’s come to interview you to write a book about your life. Oh yes, you’re a big deal. She sits down, opens her notebook, and places a small recording device on the table between you.

Now, take a moment to answer each of these questions:

• Why is this biographer writing about you?
• What are the big chapters in your life’s story?
• What was your biggest achievement?
• What are you most proud of?
• What are you known for?
• What were some of the lowest points in your life?
• How did you get through them?
• What was your biggest life lesson?
• What was the pinnacle of your career?
• What did you create?
• How did you spend your time when you weren’t working?
• Did you have hobbies, like cooking or pottery or improv?
• What legacy will you leave for friends and family?
• And finally, what’s the name of your biography?

Once you’ve had an opportunity to answer these questions, take a moment to reflect on your answers. Is this the story you hope to tell when you’re 80? Are you taking steps now in your day-to-day life to make this Vision a reality? Or, are you saving the good stuff and the big moves for “someday” when you finally have time, or when it’s more convenient?

Author Bob Goff once tweeted, “The battle for our hearts are fought on the pages of our calendars.” Getting crystal clear about the life you want to look back on with gratitude when you’re 80 is a solid step toward winning that battle and living a life with no regrets.

Once you’ve completed this exercise and chosen the title of your biography, write your title on a sticky note and post it where you can see it. Whenever you see your biography title, you’ll be reminded of the stories you want to tell and feel energized to make decisions and take the small daily actions that will move you one step closer to your Vision for the future.

Exercise 2: To You; From You

The email from my client read:

It took me a while to sit down and write this letter because I wanted to give it the proper energy. But also, I was afraid to face the words that I’d be writing. Letting myself be vulnerable on a page means I also have to face what I really want out of life.

What do you really want out of life? There’s no doubt that facing a question about life that’s this big can be intimidating. However, as the years go by, we usually become wiser with experience. Think about past milestones in your life. Graduating from high school, graduating from college, having your first child, moving to a new home or state, starting your first job, or opening your business are all major turning points in people’s lives. Traversing these milestones comes with mistakes, achievements, and lessons learned. What advice would you give a younger version of yourself approaching one of these milestones? What have you learned that you wish you had known back then?

In this exercise, you’ll write a letter. This letter is to you in the present, from you in the future. No, we aren’t stepping into a time machine to arrive at a point years from now in which you’ve achieved your goals and earned the wisdom that comes from living life. Instead, we’re going to imagine life five years from now.

Picture you, five years in the future. You wake up each day feeling calm and prepared. You’re loving life. You’re fulfilled in your work, with your family, and with how you spend your time. Each day is filled with Purpose, and you close your eyes at night feeling satisfied and ready for tomorrow. You have solid routines in place, you’re achieving your goals in health, wellness, relationships, personal development, community service, and beyond. You’re feeling great. You’re happier than ever.

You look back on the past five years and think about how far you’ve come, so you sit down to write a letter to “five years ago you.”

In your letter, describe what life looks like now. Describe how you spend your days, and how amazing things have turned out. Share your wins, and what you’re most proud of. Make sure you also note that life during these past five years wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Tell “five years ago you” about the challenges and obstacles you encountered along the way. Tell yourself about the highs and the lows as you were making your way through the years. What did you learn? What sacrifices did you make? How did you get out of your comfort zone? What did you do differently? What do you regret? What did you add, and what did you let go of? What do you think you changed to get to this point?

End your letter by telling yourself what’s next. Share what’s on the horizon for the next five years and beyond. Go into detail about the plans you have for yourself, and how you’ll get there. Encourage “five years ago you” and share the advice you wish someone would give you today. Then, sign your letter.

After you’ve written your letter, read and reread it. You may want to tuck your letter in a safe place so you can read it when you need encouragement and want to be reminded of the Vision you have for your life. This exercise has been so powerful for so many of my clients and I truly hope it’s the same for you. In fact, one client who did this exercise in spring 2020 kept her Vision top of mind by writing “2025” on an index card and posting it on her bathroom mirror so she’d see it each morning and remember to believe in herself and her Vision for the future.

• • •

While I hope these two exercises start you on your path to clarifying your Vision, there are many more ways to capture how you hope to spend your time. You can condense your Vision for the future into a sentence or two, called a Vision statement. You can also create a Vision board, which is a compilation of images that represent the different activities and ideas within your big Vision.

Regardless of how you capture your Vision, what’s important is that you spend time thinking through the future you hope to create for yourself. Then, keep your Vision visible. Just like the 2025 index card example, create a reminder of your Vision that you can see frequently. Post your Vision board near your desk. Create a desktop background featuring your Vision statement. When your Vision is top of mind, it can inspire your decisions throughout your daily life.

YOUR VALUES

In the smash hit Broadway production Hamilton: An American Musical, Lin Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton asks antagonist Aaron Burr, “If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?”

Your Values are what you stand for. They’re your North Star and guiding principles as you move through life. If you haven’t articulated your Values, you’re at a disadvantage when it comes to making decisions of all shapes and sizes. Just like having a clear Vision in mind when making decisions is important, knowing your Values and measuring opportunities against those Values is critical, too—whether it’s a job opportunity, potential client, meeting request, leadership role, or hot date. By deeply knowing and living by your Values, you can quickly determine if something is, or isn’t, worth your precious time.

In August 2021, I was faced with a decision I never could have predicted. After leaving traditional employment, giving up my W-2 and employee badge in 2016, I spent five years building and growing my business as a time management coach. When an email from a guy named Fran with a company called Clockwise hit my inbox asking if I’d be interested in discussing a full-time role with the company, I was certain my spam filter was on the fritz. However, after weeks of conversations with Fran and others on the Clockwise team, returning to the world of full-time employment was a no-brainer.

Clockwise’s Values are empathy, authenticity, focus, drive, curi-osity, and enthusiasm. It was clear to me in my interactions with the Clockwise team that their Values were more than just nice words paired with cute graphics posted on their Careers page. Their Values permeated every aspect of the recruiting process, and every single person I spoke with seemed to radiate those Values.

Knowing my Values made what could have been an agonizing decision quite simple.

What Do Values Look Like?

So, how can you define your Values? In just five steps, we’ll do exactly that. Before we get started, though, it’s important to know that your Values don’t have to be deep or profound, but they should be steadfast and consistent. Additionally, Values should only consist of five to seven words that represent what’s most important to you. Having too many can dilute their power and diminish their meaning. We’re articulating our Values, not making a list of nice words that sound good.

With that, let’s get to work!

Step 1: Make a List of 100 Dreams

The first book I ever read about time and time management was 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam. In that book, Vanderkam shares a brainstorming exercise she learned from career coach Caroline Ceniza-Levine. Ceniza-Levine has her clients create a list of 100 dreams—a completely unedited list of anything one might want to do, have, or experience during their lifetime. Creating your own list of 100 dreams is a fun and effective way to further crystallize your Vision and begin our process of articulating your Values. Plus, it’s fun to let yourself dream for a bit.

The instructions are simple. Jot down 100 things you’d like to experience, places you’d like to travel to, or goals you’d like to accomplish. This can even include relationships you’d like to cultivate or books you’d like to read. Feel free to include big dreams you’ve already accomplished because they count, too!

The benefit and challenge of compiling a list of 100 dreams is that you have to be specific. Just writing “Travel more” doesn’t cut it, and it’ll take you a really long time to get to 100 if you’re being overly general. Let yourself totally go. Dream big for yourself!

As you get to work, here’s a tip if you’re feeling stuck: set a timer for 15 minutes and write down as many dreams as possible until the timer goes off. Then, leave your list out where you can easily add to it throughout the day or week. Then, just keep adding to it until you get to 100.

As you’re compiling your list of 100 dreams, keep in mind that this list is about you, and only you. This is what you want, not what you think you should want or what others want for you. Give yourself the gift of being selfish with your list of 100 dreams. This is your space to dream, so give it your all.

Step 2: Identify Your Dream Themes

Once you’ve made your list of 100 dreams, it’s time to reflect. Look over the dreams you’ve captured. Do you see any themes or patterns as you review your dreams? What do the items on your list have in common? Can you create categories for similar dreams? If so, which dreams can be grouped together?

Use this step to get messy with your list. Circle, star, highlight, underline, or rewrite your list—do whatever it takes to sort your dreams into groups. Once you’ve sorted your dreams into different categories, give each category a name. I call these groupings your Dream Themes, and they form the basis of your Values.

For example, maybe you have several travel-related or home improvement dreams. Or, you see lots of creative projects, books, paintings, or experiences on your dreams list. Perhaps there’s a focus on dreams around relationships or career-building. All of these could be made into Dream Themes that will help you get closer to clarifying your Values.

Before we move to the next step, here’s a gut check question: Does how you spend your time now reflect those dreams? This part is usually when people begin to realize what truly matters to them, and that the things they hope to experience in the future are hardly present in their day-to-day lives. This is a step toward changing that.

Step 3: Choose Your Words

Once you’ve identified your Dream Themes by batching your dreams into different categories, start brainstorming words or phrases that represent those themes. For example, if one of your Dream Themes centers around relationships, maybe “acceptance” or “teamwork” is a value for you.

Use the Values word list below as inspiration. Write down any words that feel right. Circle words or put a star next to some. Draw a line through words that definitely don’t make your list.

Step 4: Narrow the List Down

At this point, you’ve probably assembled a lengthy list of words and phrases that represent your Dream Themes and what matters most to you. Since your Values should typically be a list of five to seven words, it’s time to narrow down your list. Slowly review your list, taking a moment to consider every word. Ask yourself these questions about each word:

• What does this word mean to me?
• What does this represent in my life right now?
• What do I hope this word will represent in the future?
• How would I feel if this word was not included in my Values?

Remember, your Values are not a collection of nice words. They represent the ideas and beliefs that make you, you. Once you’ve reviewed each meaningful word, narrow down your list to 10 or fewer. Then, rank your remaining words in order of importance.

Step 5: Reflect and Refine

Now that you’ve narrowed your list and ranked the words in order of importance, look at both your List of 100 Dreams and your Dream Themes one last time. To finalize your Values, ask yourself these questions about your ranked list:

• Did I miss anything?
• Is there any overlap?
• Do any of these words make more sense as part of a phrase?
• Can any of these words be combined to create a single value that captures my intent?
• Am I passionate about them?
• Are they easy to understand?
• Can I memorize them?
• Do I have too many?

Keep in mind that too many Values can dilute their meaning and make them more difficult to remember. Try to bring your list all the way down to five to seven.

Before finalizing these Values, write them on a sticky note or print them out on paper. Post these words or phrases where you’ll see them often; keep them visible for a few days to make sure they really feel right before you commit.

Once you’ve put your Values into words by getting to the root of who you are and what matters most, it’s unlikely they’ll change drastically over the years. They’ll be pretty steadfast and serve as the compass to guide your decisions. It’s also possible that major life changes and transitions could cause a shift in your Values, and that’s perfectly normal, too. If you sense that your Values no longer have the same meaning for you, revisit this exercise and refine your list.

• • •

Your Values are so much more than a collection of nice words. Now that you’ve articulated your Values, use them as your compass as you embark on your path toward achieving your Vision for the future. Keep them visible, even if that simply means jotting them on a sticky note that you post in your workspace. When you’re reminded of your Values, you’re more likely to make decisions that align with who you are and what matters most to you.

HOW TO LIVE YOUR VISION AND VALUES

Now that you’ve clarified your Vision for the future and defined your personal Values, you may be wondering what exactly you’re supposed to do with them. What does it actually look like to live your Vision and Values? How do you translate these ideas and words to the pages of your calendar and hours of your life?

You’re certainly not alone in your curiosity about next steps. So often whenever we create something like a mission statement or our Vision and Values, we assume the next step is action.

Your next step now is less about doing and more about being.

When it comes to defining your Vision and Values, the power is in the process. The doing already happened as you captured your Vision and created your list of Values. Now it’s time for being. And, you can do that by being your most authentic self and using your Vision and Values as a compass through each day and with each decision.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make after articulating our Vision and Values is to tuck the work we just did in a drawer and never look at it again. Instead, keep your Vision and Values top of mind—whether by posting them on your mirror, as a background on your phone, or somewhere else—so you can use them to drive your days.

Since your Values should be a relatively short list, challenge yourself to memorize them. Start by posting them somewhere you’ll see them often, like your desk, your fridge, or the front cover of your planner.

Make a Vision and Values Brainstorm List

I hope you’re feeling energized and excited to begin living your Vision and Values. But, how exactly do you translate words like legacy, curiosity, or loyalty into items on your to-do list? A Vision and Values Brainstorm List is a great place to start.

Begin this brainstorm by gathering your Vision notes and your list of Values.

Start with your Vision. What are the actions you can take in the next year, quarter, month, week, or day that will get you one step closer to making your Vision a reality? Write those actions down in a brainstorm list. This list is your inspiration for the next steps you can take to make your Vision a reality.

Next, grab your list of Values and start with the first value on your list. Make a list of at least five activities that represent that value to you. These actions should be things you can reasonably experience or complete in the near future. While it’s OK to be a little aspirational, they should also be achievable.

Work your way down your Values list and continue building your list of actions that represent each value. If one of your Values is family, what are five actions you can take that will help you live that value today, tomorrow, or next week? If one of your Values is connection, honesty, courage, or faith, what are five actions you can take in the near future that exemplify that value? Chances are, you won’t be able to stop at five!

Once you’ve created your Vision and Values brainstorm lists, keep them handy so you can refer back to them later. When you plan your week, ask yourself whether your Values are represented on your calendar. If yes, awesome! If not, consider making some changes that will enable you to proactively live each of your Values in some way.

TIME MANAGEMENT BEGINS WITH VISION AND VALUES

Now, you might be incredibly excited to have established a clear set of Vision and Values that will guide your Purpose—but you might also be wondering how these parts of your identity are going to come into play as we learn more about time management. I’ve got you covered.

Imagine a funnel, or an upside-down triangle that’s big at the top and gets narrower at the bottom. Your Vision and Values are at the top; they represent who you are, and what’s most important to you.

Your Values influence the next level down, your priorities and goals.

Your priorities and goals influence the next level down, which includes what you need to do this year in order to achieve those goals.

What you need to do this year determines what you need to do this quarter.

What you need to do this quarter affects how you spend your time this month.

What you need to accomplish this month affects what you need to knock out this week.

What you need to achieve this week determines how you should spend today.

And, at the very bottom of the funnel is the smallest point. What you need to do today affects what you need to do right now.

This is exactly why we don’t begin a conversation about effective time management by discussing planners, calendars, and organizing tips. As much as I love those parts of time management, that’s just not the best place to begin. Without a Vision for the future and Values to light the way, your time management isn’t Purpose-driven—and time management without Purpose is reactive. That kind of time management looks like putting out one fire after another, giving the squeaky wheel the grease, and living from one day to the next. That’s not sustainable or intentional, and it doesn’t set you up to use your time or your gifts to their fullest.

I believe that you have gifts and strengths that the world needs. And if you’re reading this book, you’ve got the drive to master time management.

If you stay focused and implement the time management essentials we will work through in this book, you will become Purpose-driven and unstoppable—as long as your Vision and Values guide the way.

ESSENTIAL TAKEAWAYS

At the end of each chapter, you’ll find Essential Takeaways. These are the most important points you’ll need to remember as you build your personal time management strategy using a layered approach that starts with identifying what matters most. In this chapter, the Essential Takeaways are:

• Effective time management begins with articulating your life’s Purpose. Two time management tools that will help you articulate your life’s Purpose are your Vision and your Values.
• Your Vision is your mental picture of what you want your future to look like. Having a Vision guides your decisions and gives you hope.
• Your Values are a collection of five to seven words that represent what matters most to you in life. They serve as guiding principles in your decision-making, including decisions about how you spend your time.
• The key to living your Vision and Values is keeping them visible and top of mind; connecting them with relevant, achievable actions; and constantly striving to be your most authentic self.