Time is Scarce

Written by: Megan Trask (TULA Founder and CEO) 

Where does the time go? 

I don’t know about you but I feel like I ask myself that question every.single.day.

I used to ask myself this question every day while working a bazillion hour a week job and juggling two amazing babes as a single Mom… and it felt like the most defeating question ever. A reminder that I had not accomplished a fraction of the things on my various lists, a reminder that I was missing out on who and what was important to me, barely treading water, and oh so exhausted. I asked this question so often, and hated my answers so much, I had to do something about it. 

So I quit. I mean there were a few things that lead up to that...I thought often about how to prioritize my life with purpose and how to find more time in my day. I thought about how nice it would be to have an Assistant a few hours a week to take care of the things that bogged me down and stressed me out but definitely never brought much joy other than the joy of crossing something off a list. I’m Type A, I can’t help it!

The daily grind continued and the idea of an on-demand personal assistant as the solution was always in the back of my mind as I continued to become more and more miserable in my career. So I made a plan. An exit plan. I’m a planner by nature. I make lists of lists. I make spreadsheets for fun. I plan.every.detail. So why would taking a huge life altering risk be any different? I planned and replanned, I set a timeline in motion, and then I chickened out a couple of times… and then COVID. And then a company down-size. And my best friend, and TULA co-founder, needing a pivot from her event planning company that was hit hard by COVID. And voila, thank you universe! I had just the not-so-subtle nudge I needed to make a change. And TULA was born. 

We are all so busy. Period. That is the world we live in. Whether you are working in an office, from home, a stay at home parent, student, no matter where you are in life, we are accustomed to filling our calendars to the brim. It feels like a constant hamster wheel and yet, not all of those things filling our schedules bring joy and fulfillment, they aren’t necessarily the things that matter. Yet they consume our time and end up taking priority over the people and experiences that matter more.

Ask yourself this question: If I had all the time in the world, heck, even just a few more hours in a week, what would I do with that time, what would I choose to do, how would I use my time differently, how would I serve others, what would light me up? 

It’s a time-value proposition. Would you spend a little more money to give yourself more time in your day, to avoid those things you don’t really want to do in favor of those things you really do want to do? Would you spend a replenish-able resource to gain more of a finite resource? What if, more importantly, you felt like YOU could choose what was on your TO-DO list rather than a list created by life? Prioritizing with purpose is such a rewarding feeling. It makes life feel a little easier, more fulfilling. It makes your impact and accomplishments feel bigger. What is your time worth? What is your happiness worth? 

#pivot #prioritizewithpurpose #moretime #balance #purpose #timevalue