For those of us shifting the course of our lives, simply finding time to make the shift can be challenging.

It often goes like this:

You know all the reasons why you want and need to change the course of your life. In fact, you’ve gone beyond debating with yourself (and others) whether or not it should be a priority. You’ve decided change is your priority… It’s just that you can’t find the time in your busy schedule to consistently apply yourself to those new activities which you know will bring the change you want.

In fact, the harder you try to do those things you know are in your best interest, the more things seem to happen in your life to distract your attention and energy.

The secret of integrating change into your day-to-day life is that it has to become a habit. You see, the change you want is competing with the habits that are already occupying your time. You have to think of those habits as a structure, like a wall.

If you wanted to build a window into an existing wall you would find the strongest part of the wall, cut a hole, install a header and frame the window in… In other words, the window, which is the change you desired, still uses the structure of the existing wall. You can’t just tear down the wall and start over especially if the wall is part of an existing building (your day-to-day life).

Look for the perfect place for a new window

Step back from your life and observe what some of your habits are. A few weeks ago my wife Gwen and I came to the realization that we were watching a movie every night of the week! An hour and a half or so of the same activity that had become a habit. So we changed the habit to two nights a week. Our movie nights could vary but never more than two times a week.

The net result of that simple change was finding seven and half hours of productive time a week! (5 x 1.5 hrs) That’s like finding an entire workday! It was there all the time and it wasn’t that difficult to break the habit… It’s actually increased the value of our remaining movie nights because we’re a lot more discerning about the quality of the movies we’re watching.

Start small

Fundamental change begins from within your existing structure. Step back and take a look at your day-to-day activities. You’re going to be amazed at how certain things you don’t think much about but continue to do on a regular basis can be adjusted, modified or outright eliminated. This will free-up time you didn’t realize you had…

-Bob Baran