Putting Value in Your Time

Start your year with 3 reflection exercises to gain the most value for your time because "It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln

As we step into 2023, what were your most valuable moments in 2022? Did you survive another pandemic year or were you able to thrive? Or a combination of both?

On this New Year's Eve post, I am contemplating how I have spent my time this year and what I have gained or lost. Like an ROI (return on investment) to determine the value I have gained from my time investments this past year.

I don't make New Year's resolutions. I think reflecting and refocusing on life goals should be a regular exercise that doesn't require the societal pressure of New Year's. I think when we pressure ourselves with often too ambitious and lofty resolutions, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

In an article from the Times-Tribune, Tips for Making Sure Your New Year's Resolutions Stick they share that "Studies show that only 8% of Americans who make a New Year's resolution actually keep them all year and 80% have failed by the start of February."

So instead, I take a more reflective and proactive approach. I take stock of progress and setbacks as well as validate achievements and growth throughout the year. I go through a series of reflection exercises that help me to analyze and plan where to invest my time to create the most value in my life.

So as we welcome 2023, I gift you with 3 reflection exercises to help you to invest your time where it's the most valuable in your life.

1. Identify Your Valuable Life Roles

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."

George Washington Carver

In our lives, we play many roles to many people and to ourselves. When we have awareness of the roles and how we want to create value in these roles, we gain clarity on how to invest and plan our time.

Think about the different aspects of your life and list the roles that are most valuable to you. Consider the roles you take in your private and professional life and the role you hold to yourself. Here is my list as an example:

• To myself - a compassionate human being

• As a spouse - a supportive, loving wife and life partner

• As a parent - a fun, supportive parent and life coach

• As a sister - a confidant and friend and sister

• As an entrepreneur - a brave, bold and creative businesswoman

Note: Instead of just saying spouse, parent, sister, etc, add descriptive adjectives to define the value of this role in your life.

2. Defining Your Meaningful Contribution

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Each of us makes an impact on the world around us. If we are mindful and aware, we can control the impact that we make to be positive.

Defining the contribution you want to make in the valuable life roles that you take will help you to be aware of the impact that you make and guide the actions that you take to fulfill your contributions.

Once you have identified your valuable life roles, let's define the meaningful contribution you want to make in each role. Here is an example using my list for exercise 1.

VALUABLE LIFE ROLES	MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION
Compassionate Human Being	To be a mindful and compassionate human being who contributes kindness and positivity to the world.
Supportive & Loving Wife and Life Partner	To support my husband in creating our life together with respect and love.
Fun, Supportive Parent & Life Coach	To be a supportive and understanding parent to my sons with open-mindedness, respect and trust.
Confidant & Friend & Sister	To connect regularly and be an understanding confidant and friend to my siblings.
Brave, Bold & Creative Businesswoman	To continue to learn, grow and believe in my abilities as an entrepreneur and thought leader.

Note: Be specific with the contributions you want to make in your roles. The more specific you are with the end in mind, the more concrete you can be in taking steps to make the contributions happen.

3. Determine Your Intentional Actions

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Understanding what meaningful contribution you want to make in the various life roles that you take helps to define the actions that you make. You can be intentional in what you do and how you invest your time to create value in your life.

Intentional actions to support your roles and meaningful contributions do not have to be grand. It can be everyday awareness and behaviours that support the value you want to contribute to your relationships.

Review and reflect on your Roles & Meaningful Contributions list and now add actions and activities to fulfill the contributions. Think about the actions you can take consistently. Consider the frequency of interactions in each of your roles and create intentional actions accordingly. Here is an example from my list.

VALUABLE ROLE:

Fun Supportive Parent & Life Coach

MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION:

• To be a supportive and understanding parent to my sons with open-mindedness, respect and trust.

INTENTIONAL ACTIONS:

• Connect with them on monthly video calls while they are studying abroad.

• Be open to their thoughts and plans for their next steps in their future and be a neutral sounding board to help them work out their thoughts.

• Learn and gain insight into their current environment, interests and challenges so that I can connect with them more deeply.

• Share fun social media content that relates to our common interests and conversations occasionally to make them smile and show I am thinking of them.

Note: Consider the intentional actions you plan from the perspective of the person you are contributing to. Is this something that they would appreciate? Is this something that would be of help and value to them?

Bonus Exercise

"One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea."

Walter Bagehot

With a new year comes a clean slate of new opportunities. Whether you make New Year's resolutions or not, capture your new ideas, hopes and dreams in a way that you can bring them to fruition.

Revisit my blog Turn Ideas into Action and Ignite Your Potential and my book Ideas to Action: Self-Development Ideation Journal to help make your new ideas actionable in 2023.

Celebrate Your Time Well Spent

"It is not length of life, but depth of life."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

How we spend our time with intention and purpose creates value. Mindfulness of what matters to you and the time you invest in what matters to you in life will help you create a life well lived.

Raise a glass to celebrate the end of a challenging yet rewarding 2022 and celebrate the new opportunities that 2023 will bring.

Happy New Year!

Other helpful interesting and articles on goal planning and achieving goals:

How to Make and Keep a New Year's Resolution - Online Article - nytimes.com

The Psychology of Writing Down Goals - Online Article - newtechnorthwest.com

I would love to hear your comments!

What are your most valuable life roles?

Do you make New Year's resolutions and have you been successful at seeing them through?

What is your New Year's wish?

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