Radical Time Ownership

Psychological freedom is more important than financial freedom.

Why do I say this?

Because I think it is the truest form of freedom.

Time freedom is something financial freedom buys you.

But psychological freedom is what allows you to utilize that time for the life you want to build and live.

Psychological freedom can grow in many ways.

Know yourself. Understand your personality. Understand your values. Understand your bio-rhythms. Explore your narratives about yourself (the personal myths you embody).

Lots of ways to do this.

Create alignment with your values, your dreams, and your intentions. When your thoughts, your words, and your actions are “perfectly” aligned (or as close as possible), then you experience alignment.

I believe that a big part of alignment is keeping your promises to yourself.

This is integrity, and it is essential for felt authenticity.

It is your truth, and you want the freedom to live that truth.

Radically own your own time.

How do you create alignment if you do not have radical ownership of your time and how you spend it?

You will always be living for someone else (and/or your “fantasy” self) if you do not fully own your time.

And that is what I want to focus on for the rest of this article.

How does one go about radically owning their time?

What happens when one does this?

This is a rich topic.

We’re going to scratch the surface today, but there will be lots to share and consider on it in the future.

And I had a profound realization about it this morning—and perhaps a confession, if I have implied anything different in these articles.

Yesterday, I was talking about my next One Hit Wonder that I will put in place by the end of June or beginning of next month.

I considered them this morning and had two or three in mind that rose to the top.

But then this idea of radically owning my own time rose to the surface.

My realization—or confession?

I have not been radically owning my time post-FIRE, or perhaps ever, except in small doses.

I’ve spent huge chunks of my life existing in time, but not necessarily living in time.

I awoke around 3:00 a.m. this morning and could not go back to sleep.

At 3:15 a.m., I went ahead and got up, had a little water, made a coffee, and proceeded to lounge around for three hours.

I played games on my phone while watching one YouTube video after another.

I pondered what I would do today.

I considered taking today as a retreat day to get clarity on my next One Hit Wonder, clear the decks of clutter and urgent tasks, and unpack my baggage—from both my mind and my trip this weekend.

About 6:00 a.m., I finally got moving and started straightening up the house, putting things back where they belonged.

Then I realized it was going to be warmer here than normal, so I should probably get my little tookus moving and get my steps done.

Then it hit me.

I need to own my own time.

One Hit Wonders can help me.

Let’s start with the first one, complete it, move to the second one, and so on.

I got my shoes on and was out the door by 6:30 a.m.

I did three different walks around the neighborhood, with a bathroom break in between them.

That took me two hours.

I racked up 11,600 steps.

It felt good, I felt strong, and The nature was beautiful.

Some crows were excited to see me come home and were dive-bombing me as I made my way toward the front door.

Weird and very unusual animal encounter for this house.

It was 8:30 a.m.

That is all the walking I need to do to reach 15,000 steps today, besides my normal movements the rest of the day.

I know this because I have done it many times.

I then moved on to my Zeroscaping tracking One Hit Wonder.

I was a bit behind from the trip.

Monday is usually when I balance my checking account and pay any outstanding bills.

Plus, I needed to move cash from my brokerage account to pay next month’s bills.

Bottom line, it took me a full hour to do all these tasks, and I still didn’t get to a couple of others I wanted to complete.

Oh well.

I will tackle them tomorrow.

Then I decided to focus on my target-weight One Hit Wonder.

I thought I could do my six sets of pull-ups, chin-ups, and side-ups, weigh myself to see if I am on track (oops, I hit my goal on Friday, but today I was 1.2 pounds over again…), get a shower, get ready for the day, and call the doctor to schedule an annual physical and have my shoulder injury looked at.

Nope.

I got the first parts done, but not the call to the doctor.

Maybe this belongs in my declutter time frame?

TBD.

It was 10:35 a.m.

Time for my 4th One Hit Wonder, the Daily Blog. I had been thinking about this article on my walks and while working through these other One Hit Wonders, and I finished the draft around 11:05 a.m.

Right about on time.

Nice.

You see, what I am going to do before I commit to any additional One Hit Wonders is take a very close look at how I am—or am not—radically owning my time.

Then I will commit to the next one.

Or maybe this is the next one?

I don’t know.

I have a week before July starts to see what I learn.

What will be interesting about this experiment is seeing what blocks me from completely owning my time during the coming week.

What excuses might I try to find, create, or accept?

Who might I try to blame for my inability to do so?

What unexpected things will pop up that might derail the experiment?

I don’t know.

But it’s going to be fun to see what happens.