If you could go back 5 or 10 years what are some things that you wish the younger you would’ve known or done? These thoughts have crossed my mind many of times. Often as we get older our experience brings wisdom. We suddenly know something we didn’t know before, or maybe we knew it 5 years ago but we truly didn’t understand the impact and never applied it into daily action. What if 5 years ago you would’ve just put 30 min, 3x a week toward a particular goal? Maybe it wouldn’t have been worth much at that time, but it would have mattered today. Let’s say for example learning a new language, or learning a new skill/trade like writing software code, maybe even something like I wish I would’ve made small investments into a fund with my additional income; if we look back, a small investment at the time wouldn’t have a big impact, but today it would hold value.
Or it could be a decision we made. We could’ve been slower to anger or handled a situation differently because in the grand scheme of things it really just wasn’t that important. Man, how dumb was it that I didn’t maintain that relationship, didn’t put 100% into that class or job or that I worried so much about people’s opinions that it got in the way of my growth even though now those individuals are no longer in the picture? 
Maybe you feel you should’ve just started a family 5 years ago, as the timing is just as wrong now as it was then. With a lot of decisions we’ve made there was just no way we could’ve known the impact at that time. We didn’t have a crystal ball telling us how things would turn out or how we would feel in years to come if we didn’t do things differently in present time.
The beauty is that you HAVE a crystal ball now. All the things that you didn’t do and the opportunities that you didn’t take then are still staring you in the face today; maybe they are in a different form, such as a new relationship, or a new career. The only difference is that now you know how you will feel if you don’t set aside some time to do those little things that don’t HAVE to be done right now. But if you invest a little bit of energy into doing it now, 5 years into the future you’ll thank yourself for it. We simply don’t know what we don’t know. 5 years ago the wrong decision was a mistake, now it’s a choice. Make the choice to do the things that will be important to the future you now!
That all sounds great, but how do we do it? Things were different back then; we had more time, we were younger, and it made more sense. Sometimes we are making conscious decisions to not pursue our passions and purpose but often times, life just gets in the way. I like the Eisenhower Matrix of Time Management because it really shines a light on how we spend our time and end up letting life get in the way of the things that are important to us. The top of the matrix deals with urgency while the side deals with importance. 
Many of us often find ourselves spending the majority of our time in [Urgent/Unimportant]. Basically we spend a lot of time doing things like work emails and chores at home, the stuff that has to be done but it’s really not that important. We then spend our downtime in [Not Urgent/Not Important], watching TV, looking at social media or doing something else that in no way adds any value. After our time is burned up we are in crisis mode [Urgent/Important.] We end up spending very little time in the [Not Urgent/Important] quadrant. The important things that aren’t urgent tend to be the difference makers, these are the things that we look back and wish we would’ve invested time into 5 years ago.
The key is to start to take the time to add the important things into a plan. Commit to making a plan, and that will make it easier for you to say no/negotiate or delegate some of the [Urgent/Unimportant] tasks to free up more time for the important things. Taking time out of [Not Urgent/Unimportant] just comes down to discipline. If you have a plan for a certain time block you have to make the commitment to make it happen. Read “The 5 Second Rule” for a quick trick on how to get things done (Or I’ll tell you here; count down from 5 and make a physical move toward what you want to do. This can be used towards getting up in the morning, heading to the gym, etc.). All in all, push yourself towards doing the things that are important to you that you’ve become accustomed to avoiding. Spend more time with family and friends, go on vacation, and accomplish your goals. We have a limited amount of time, make the best of the time you have!
