If you’re also a bit thrown that 2014 is almost halfway gone, you might be in need of a little rest and rejuvenation. Or you might be feeling as though it’s time for a mid-year check-in. Or you might be totally killing it and think I’m crazy for even bringing this up (if so, congrats to you and may I please have some of whatever you’ve got!)

I’ve been thinking about it a bit this week, after a bit of a midweek + midyear crisis when I realised that haven’t set many goals this year.

You know how it is, you start the year with BIG INTENTIONS. January means regular work outs, eating well, a perfect work/life balance, getting out in the sun (well for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere), seeing friends, making plans, and basking in the unlimited possibilities of a shiny new year.

Then life gets in the way, cruisy January becomes February – full of deadlines and work stuff and commitments – and suddenly, it’s June.

What happened?!

What have we achieved in the past six months that’s worthy of mention?

Apparently this is a huge part of the human condition, that we feel the need to fill our time in order to feel worthy. That we love to be ‘busy’ because we think it makes us seem important when, in fact, it makes us look like victims or slaves to time.

Danielle LaPorte says this of time in her book, The Firestarter Sessions:

“Time is in charge. Free time is something you earn. Time is dispensed to you.

VS

I’m in charge. Things need to earn your time and attention. You are the dispenser of time.”

When I read this the other night, I felt elated. I felt free in a way I haven’t felt before. That we constantly watch the clock, can’t be late, have to rush off, must get to bed. But for what?

Why would I stop myself at 11:24 (current time) to go to bed because I feel like I should, when I’m right in the middle of a moment of inspiration? Why should I rush a conversation with a friend to ‘get home’ for…nothing in particular? Why should I get to the middle of the year and put pressure on myself to prove that I’ve made the most of it or achieved ‘enough’ without even knowing what that means to me (and possibly just comparing it to someone else’s ‘enough’)?

I don’t know.

But one thing I do know is that I like the idea of being the dispenser of time.

That projects or activities or anything has to EARN my time. And if it’s not getting done, there’s probably a good reason for that. Maybe I need to find new ways to get stuff done. Or I need to rearrange my thinking to do those important/urgent tasks in one chunk (because procrastination, after all, is the mother of all evil).

And maybe a ‘mid-year check-in’ is necessary to stay on course, but surely it’s important to check-in more often than that.

Is this work I’m doing right now still aligned to what I want?

How do I FEEL about this situation or that thing I thought I wanted six months ago (or last week, or yesterday)?

I guess what I’m saying is, that if we wait six months to ‘check-in’ and make sure we’re on course for the year, there’s probably a good chance we’re not. But what I’m learning and trying to work with is more along the lines of, how does this feel? Is this making me happy or adding to my life right now? Is this bringing me closer to what I want and has it earned my time and attention?

On a minute-by-minute basis.

Presence. Alignment. Honesty. Joy.

Because, why not?!

I don’t want to get to years and years down the track and realise the goals I was working towards no longer fit. It’s like those uncomfortable shoes that you wear because you spent good money on them, but they aren’t right and they rub and rub and rub and you put up with it for just long enough until, one day, you’re in some serious pain.

That doesn’t sound good to me at all.

So, I’m not saying not to do the mid-year check-in. If it works for you and it fits in with your values of order and accountability, then go you good thing.

But don’t be a slave to time and diminish your awesome self because you feel the need to be rewarded for the last six months. You are the dispenser of time and there is no reward for forcing yourself to do things out of fear. Or  because you want to feel that you’ve achieved something by the time the mid-year check-in comes around.

Do more of what you love, with love.

Discover your core values, and honour them.

Sick of being a slave to time? Tell me in the comments what you’re going to do to take charge of time and how this mid-year check-in time is going to serve YOU.