The Ripple Effect Life:
Health & Life Mastery Blog Series
by Dr. Tom Gargiula “Dr. G”
When I ask people, “What causes the most stress in your life?”, the most common answer I hear is, “I have NO time!”. “There is so much to do and NO time to do it.”. Time is a commodity that, at first look, appears to be limited. There are only 24 hours in a day and only 365 days in a year.
Why is it that certain people seem more productive than others? We have all heard the saying, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”
If we are all given the gift of the same number of hours in a day, how is it that this productivity difference exists. The key difference is how we use the time. Is our time used efficiently or is it wasted? What are we really doing with those hours?
To be sure there is understanding with what I am saying, I am talking about being productive, not about being a work-a-holic. This is a great time to re-visit the basic premise of “The Ripple Effect”.
The Ripple Effect has a basic premise of, Consciously Creating MY Life in MY Own I.D.E.A.L.
I.D.E.A.L. has a deeper meaning that expands the major premise of The Ripple Effect.
I : Live your life with IMPACT.
D : Live your life with DIVINITY.
E : Live your life with EFFORTLESS FLOW.
A : Live your life from a position of ABUNDANCE
L : Live your life with a mantra of LOVE.
This Major Premise is wrapped up in Self-Full Love. We must first be grateful to God for making us in His image. We must love ourselves as we love God. Our love needs to be full to overflowing. This overflow is what spills onto everyone else in our life.
Think about it this way. When you are on an airplane and they are going over the safety instructions they say, “In case there is a loss in cabin pressure, there are oxygen masks that will drop down from overhead. If you are seated with a child, FIRST put your mask on so you can BETTER assist your child.”
WOW – How simple, yet how profound.
How many times have we run around helping everyone else put on their “oxygen masks” and because we did not take care of our own mask FIRST, we cause harm to ourselves. Harm like, getting sick, not getting our own very important stuff done, neglecting our other responsibilities, procrastinated something that does need to get done, missed an opportunity for personal or professional growth. When we cause harm to ourselves, now who can we help…Nobody. We are useless to others and we are done. Now we are unable to help others, even if we want to and like to. We have made the situation much worse. We are not only helpless, but now others need to help us. They are helping us because we neglected to take care of ourselves in the first place.
As a Wellness Chiropractor and Success Coach, I see the same thing all of the time. People neglect their own health because “there is no time” and because “I have so much on my plate already”. It is critical to understand that treating ourselves like this goes against God’s Laws and the Principles of Nature. Anytime we go against God’s Laws and Natural Principles something eventually breaks down. All it takes is time to see that living this way will not continue without a problem developing.
The most important thing that allows us to have the impact that we feel we are called to, is through Time Mastery. As we Master our Time we are able to accomplish more and do so in a more efficient manner.
The first step in Time Mastery is deciding what your Core Values are. This is how you decide what is important to you and where things fall as a priority in your life. As an example I will share my Core Values with you.
Dr. G.’s Priorities based upon his Core Values:
a. God
b. Family
c. Service
d. Prosperity
e. Freedom
Everyone’s Core Values are different. You need to decide what is important to you. Once you have your list and order of Core Values you never say “Yes” to something that does not pass each Core Value as a filter. If something passes each Core Value then it is on the table to say “Yes” or not. A simple, but common example, is when we say “Yes” to something that interferes with our family time or our time for ourselves.
I have ME as the first thing on the family list. Remember, this is not a selfish move, it is all about putting on my oxygen mask first. After that, for me, it is all about serving others, beginning with my wife and children.
Once you have your Core Values in place you then decide how much time each week you want to spend doing the things you do. All of the things that you do in the course of your week can fall into one of three categories.
Time Categories:
1. Fun Time
2. Productive Time
3. Neutral Time
Schedule Fun Time first. There will never be time for fun if you schedule it last or only do fun things when the extra time shows up. Fun is so important for you and for your relationship with your spouse, children, and friends. Fun adds an incredible spice to life. By scheduling fun things first it lets you and your loved ones know that they are valued. You will be amazed at how good this feels. You are getting your needs met. Your family is getting their needs met. The result of this is fulfillment, enjoyment, and love. These results are what is most often missing that causes families and marriages to drift apart. Schedule FUN FIRST!!!
Productive time: This is the time that results in your financial prosperity. This is the time that the farmer spends sowing and tending the fields so the harvest will get reaped. Remember the saying you heard many times as a child. “You reap what you sow.” Productive time is very valuable and needs to not be interrupted except for very specific emergencies. Be sure that your loved ones and your colleagues know the importance of this time. You are able to accomplish so much when we are not disturbed or distracted. Do not fool yourself to thinking that all of your “work” hours are productive. As a matter of fact, if you have control over your hours and schedule, the more productive time you put in during a week, the less hours you have to spend “working”. Productive time is for those things that only you can do and that you do best. For example, I am a Wellness Chiropractor. What I love to do in my office the most is work with practice members through adjusting their Nerve System. There are many other tasks to do. The phones need to be answered, the schedules are kept up to date, money is collected, missed appointments are called, etc. All of these types of tasks are delegated to my awesome team members. This frees me up to enjoy 32 hours of adjusting practice members and 4 hours of productive time to write and create. A lot gets accomplished and I still have a tone of time to spend with the family.
Neutral Time: This is the time when you do the things that are not super productive. Many of these things you will delegate. Some, however still need to get done. Many of the neutral activities tend to be house related. Cleaning, yard work, grocery shopping, repairs, upgrades, etc. I know what you are thinking… most of the things I just listed can also be delegated. You are 100% correct. You get to decide how much of your neutral time activities you want to delegate. This will free up even more time. If you are thinking about the cost of delegating all of the activities, think about this. If it takes you 5 hours per week to do the neutral time activities, you may be able to add 1 or 2 productive hours per week and have that pay for all of the delegating. You just bought yourself 3 – 4 more hours of fun time. Kind of a neat concept.
Your time is up to you. I consider my time of Earth as a gift and I want to make sure I am using that time wisely and giving back in service as well. Start with the simple exercise of keeping track of every hour of your time for a week. Break down your days into hours for 7 days and as you are going through your day keep track of where you are, what you are doing, and if it is Fun, Productive, or Neutral. Add up the results and see how you can improve your Time Mastery.
Remember – Enjoy the Process!!!