Ask Avinash Ananda
This is a series of questions and answers where the questions are asked by participants of Avinash Ananda's "live" seminars and workshops, and the answers are transcribed from Avinash's responses.
Question from Hemant:
Hi Avinash,
In one of the videos from your program on Execution Excellence, you said "Time is cyclical. So, ride the cycle of time because you cannot manage time. Instead, you can manage your Energy"
Could you please explain the above statement?
Avinash Ananda Answers:
In the physical world, everything has a patterned, rhythmic, or cyclical nature, at all levels: the atomic level, human level, and cosmic level. At the atomic level, the electrons whirl around the nucleus. At the human physiological level, the respiratory system and the cardiac system, have a rhythmic pattern. At the human psychological level, we tend to act in patterns, or according to habits of the mind. At the cosmic level, the moon goes around the earth, the earth revolves around the sun and spins on its own axis...all of which is cyclical and time is perceived and calculated according to these cycles.
Time is constant for everyone. Even if you do nothing, time will continue to tick away. So you cannot control, stop, or manage time. You have to manage your own energy (your thoughts, feelings, and actions) in this time. The better you manage your energy, the more productively you will use your available time.
I was using an analogy of a wheel when I said you must 'ride the cycle of time' (where you use your energy constructively, intelligently, and with happiness) instead of being 'trapped in the cycle of time' ( where you are micromanaging and getting stressed) or being 'crushed or run over by the wheel of time' (where you are being overwhelmed and feeling like a victim of life's circumstances).
How can you ride the cycle of time?
•Expand your awareness and sharpen your clarity.
•Be a leader of your own mind.
•Learn continuously so you can develop the capabilities to take charge of all areas of life.
•Plan and prioritize your daily tasks according to your core values, vision, and goals.
•Develop empowering beliefs and constructive habits so you can delegate appropriately, eliminate what's non-essential to your progress, and focus on the correct processes which lead you to your objectives.
•Focus on executing with excellence and passion with a detachment to the results.
It is better to understand the true nature of time and manage one's energies in the available time instead of being crushed or overwhelmed by the pressure of time.