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Let’s play a game.

If you win, you get a prize.  😊

All you have to do is guess the correct answer to the following question.

Q: When people want to add fulfillment & fun to their lives (maybe through joy coaching), what is the most common reason they decline? 

Is it:

1. I don’t have enough time for myself
2. I don’t have enough time for myself
3. I don’t have enough time for myself
4. The dog ate it.

If you guessed A, B, or C, click here to collect your prize. You’re welcome!

D guessers, here you go.

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In all seriousness, have you ever wanted to do something specifically for you, and declared:

“I would but I don’t have enough time for me?”

And then, within moments, this happened:

You turned around and spent the time you couldn’t find for yourself on someone else’s situation.

What does this say?

Let’s see if we can figure that out.

And how do I know this?

I have been there. I have crashed and burned, done the work, and come out stronger on the other side. I know how to help you do the same.

Even better, I can help you avoid the whole crash and burn thing in the first place.

If you are a person who genuinely cares about the well-being of other people and would do anything to help them, I’m so glad you are here. I wish I could give you a hug. You are one of my people. You’re a giver. The world needs you. The planet is hurting and we can do something about it. Let’s go!

But if giving to others is so important that you don’t make time to give to YOU… you might find yourself depleted. 

Depleted givers have a lot less to give.

At some point, depleted givers have nothing to give.

Yeah, I’ve been there too.

It all comes down to how we spend our time. It’s worth making the time to get a better understanding of TIME.

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All the time in the world

Depending on your mindset, this can be inspiring or annoying: We all know someone who seems to be available to help everyone else, and still has time left for fun and self-care.

How is this possible when we all get the same number of minutes each day?

Here’s a breakdown of the minutes we all have in 24 hours:

• We have 1,440 minutes if we never sleep (New Yorkers, what’s up?).
• If we sleep 8 hours a night, we have 960 waking minutes left.
• Even if we work 8 hours a day with 2 hours of commuting, we still have 360 minutes left.

If this math is accurate and you took an hour for yourself a day (gasp! An HOUR?), you’d still have 300 minutes left. 

And the day’s not even over.

Right from the start, we need to rule out the idea that some people have more time. 

It’s more a matter of, who or what am I choosing to spend my minutes on?

I’m not saying spending time on the well-being of others isn’t important. 

What I’m asking is, how important is your well-being?

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When was the last time you made time for yourself?

That was a carefully worded question.

It wasn’t about having time. 

Read it again.

“Made time.”

This is about making time.

Making time implies a choice.

For some, the memory will be too distant to be able to name an example.

Please resist the urge to wear it like a badge of honor. It’s not a pretty badge.

But the thing is, we are givers.

We work hard. 

We are there for everybody and anybody. 

Helping is as natural as breathing. 

It feels good and right to make a difference. 

We truly care about making other people’s lives better.

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But our lives could be better.

We have needs. We need to:

• have fun and refill our tanks (our “joy buckets”)*. 
• do the things that matter to us. 
• grow and learn and stretch as individuals.
• enjoy quiet time where nothing gets accomplished.
• have the freedom to choose how our time is spent.

Are we expecting other people to notice that we have needs and do something amazing?

Is this someone else’s responsibility?

The question is, if we don’t make time for us — if we don’t CHOOSE us —

why should anyone else?

And why would we want them to when it feels so great to do it ourselves?

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The Overflowing Joy Bucket

Life wasn’t always like this. 

If we pause, if we dig back far enough, we remember when things were simpler. 

We can remember feeling joy on a personal level.

This was joy just for us.

This was fulfillment aside from helping other people. 

There was fun.  

There was freedom. 

It felt good to feel good.

You remembered something… what was it?

That same feeling is what we are going for here.

That’s what’s possible now!

When you choose to meet your need for joy, it fills your joy bucket. 

Your joy bucket is like “my cup runneth over” combined with growth hormone.

Embracing joy can lead to a life where only a bucket will do. 

And here’s the best part for all of the givers:

Making time for your own joy results in having more to give to others!

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Maybe another time

I know how this feels because I’ve been there. I had the same questions and doubts. I tried and tried to change. It got to a point where I neglected my need for joy and gave to the point of having nothing left to give. My personal life wasn’t running on fumes. It wasn’t running period.

But now, my joy bucket overflows!

Maybe another time, I’ll tell you more about my story.

For now, consider these self-reflection questions about YOUR time. Let them sink in. Be honest with yourself as you answer. Keeping it real can guide you to a more joyful life. If you like to journal, these are excellent journal starters!

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Until next time…