Making Up Time – How to Catch Up When you Lose Momentum

The alarm goes off and you are up and ready to go! You have a plan and you are going strong. Whether it’s work or personal, you are committed to getting it done. Things are going well; you are building stride. You are feeling REALLY good about yourself and about the success of it all.

But then, something happens –

You get a phone call or feel ill. Someone needs you or another task becomes a priority. But, but, but…. You were so close. You were killing it. And now as you walk away, you look back … and now … it lies there dormant, waiting for you to return with the same drive and the same momentum you had before.

Is it possible to regain the same energy and passion? Will you meet your deadline? How can you manage this and all else that has to be done at the same time?

HOW DO YOU MAKE UP TIME?

If you’ve ever felt the stress and pressure of falling way behind, then you know only too well how difficult it is to make up the time. Especially if you were on a roll and really making headway. Then BOOM, that ‘something’ happens. Even if the time you were thrown off was only for a few hours or days, the time it takes to recover is often 2-3 times that amount if not more.

Why does this happen?

We get ourselves so set to accomplish something that when the stream of energy is broken, it disappoints and even disillusions us. It becomes so difficult to reverse those feelings as well as the feelings of upset and guilt.

How to recover or prevent a broken stride

1. Realize that it happens – to you and to everyone else. Remember what John Lennon said? Life is what happens when you are busy making plans. This may sound too simple to work, but if you know that interruption is part of your project, it may ease the surprise visit.
2. Build in a cushion – If you are on a deadline, or just want to build momentum in your project or task, build in more time to accomplish it or build in forgiveness time. For instance, if you commit to going to the gym 5 days a week and you get company for 2 of those days, build in makeup time or forgive the time lost altogether.
3. Find the feel-good – What would make you feel better in this situation? Making up the time, putting the project on the shelf or letting it go altogether? If you have lost your passion due to a disconnection, don’t force yourself to continue. Unless you made a promise that you want to keep, doing something out of obligation is not necessary or honorable in all cases.
4. Modify – Take a look at whether you overcommitted and readjust your deadline. This may help give you a breather. Sometimes the only pain we feel is that which we inflict upon ourselves. Learn to let go of the small stuff or pace yourself comfortably.
5. Makeup time comes second to Real-Time – Let’s say you lost 3 days of work on a project. Now you have today’s projects to do. Do you begin from the old projects and move forward? Unless they have to be done in succession, NO! Start your day with the tasks at hand and build in time to recover what was lost. Decide how much time you want or can dedicate per day or week and set a date with yourself to complete it in time. If, like me you chose to do a 30-day blog challenge and you ran 6 days behind, choose to write 2 blogs a day for 3 days and space those 3 days to cover a weeks’ time so you don’t exhaust yourself.

If you learn how to master making up time, you will find yourself easily creating more projects because you will trust yourself to get through them with less anxiety.

Here’s to making the most of your time!

Enthusiastically,

Fran

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About the Author-

Fran Asaro is an active senior and never-going-to-retire entrepreneur who consults virtually as she motivates and inspires other seniors. She offers laptop lifestyle opportunities to seniors interested in earning supplemental income with age appropriateness. Her philosophy is Work like you WANT to, not like you HAVE to.

Find out more about what Fran does at Thrive Any Way

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