Book 272 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: P.V.O.T. (Purpose Value of Time)

Book – Procrastinate on Purpose:5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time by Rory Vaden

Book Description:

Rory Vaden (Take the Stairs) brings his high-energy approach and can-do spirit to the most nagging problem in our professional lives: stalled productivity. Whether we’re overworked, organizationally challenged, or have a motivation issue that’s holding us back, millions of us are struggling to get things done.

In this simple yet powerful new book, Procrastinate on Purpose, Vaden presents the five permissions that set us free to do our best work – on time and without wasting energy battling stress and anxiety.

Using the POP model, readers will learn to: Eliminate, Automate, Delegate, Consolidate, Procrastinate (yes, you heard that right)

Anyone seeking to up their game, do meaningful work, and ditch the stress of looming deadlines and too many tasks on the front burner will embrace this smart, insightful guide.

Reflection:

I wanted so badly to hate this book as soon as I finished the introduction. I cringed as I kept hearing the author talk about things that I couldn’t care less about on my journey these days with buzz words like time management, productivity, goals, efficiency, money, investments, and thinking about 30 years into the future.

This line of thinking represents my past and no longer my future. With what my family has been through these past few years, I’ve come to learn that I can only value the present moment, as nothing is ever promised in the future. I don’t set long-term goals and I don’t care about being “efficient” at life. All I focus on these days is trying my best to live in the present and perform as many actions as I can each day that aligns to my values and purpose.

Tomorrow, or even the next minute isn’t promised to anyone. Life can change in a moment’s notice and all the best laid plans get thrown out the window in a heartbeat. To think about being efficient and effective with my actions toward my life goals 30 years in the future is almost a joke to me at this point. As I say often, I have no idea where I’m going, but I know how I’ll get there. The how I get there, living my values and purpose, is all I focus on and let the rest unfold with the randomness that is life.

Needless to say, this book and my new philosophies on life were at an impasse.

I was this close to stopping this book and returning the title, which is very rare for me, until Emilia reminded me what this was all about in the first place, and that is spending time with her and learning something new with her each and every day. She said, this isn’t about if the content is good or not, Dad! It is about spending time with each other doing stuff we love…remember? I smiled and thanked her for the reminder and we continued on with the book.

About 15 minutes after Emilia reminded me what the purpose of consuming this book was all about, the author said something that resonated deeply with me and we finally made a connection. He shared a story about his business partner’s young daughter stopping him one morning as they were heading off to the office. She said, “Where are you going daddy?”. He replied, “Daddy has to work!”. She replied, “No Daddy, no work today…please!”. That was the moment when the author said he had an epiphany that time management isn’t logical or linear…it is emotional!

I thought, “Finally! Maybe this guy does get it after all!” So, Emilia and I stuck around and we ended up enjoying the rest of the book and even learned a thing or 2 from the author that we can apply to our purpose and journey going forward.

The author refers to an acronym called M.V.O.T. as one of the key indicators as to how he values the activities he chooses to do or not do. M.V.O.T. stands for Money Value of Time and articulates that all of us have an hourly wage and that we are always either paying someone else at their rate of pay to complete a task, or we are paying ourselves at ours.

The concept of M.V.O.T. was intriguing and got me thinking. It doesn’t quite fit for me, but I got the gist of it. I started to think about how I would tweak this phrase to align to my unique adventure that I’m on with the Year of Magical Learning and exploring Purpose, Values, and Overcoming Loss.

Then all the sudden it hit me, let’s call it P. V.O.T. or “Purpose Value of Time”.

Every action you perform is on purpose, whether you know it or not. All of your actions each day are how you spend your time. Those actions are either serving your purpose or someone else’s. If you are truly trying to maximize your time in this world, then you should be trying to maximize the amount of time you spend each day on actions that align to your unique purpose in life. That is P.V.O.T!

It took this journey for me to realize that prior to Emilia, I did nothing but serve someone else’s purpose with my time each day sadly. Primarily I was serving the purpose of the business I work for with all of my heart and soul.

I didn’t know any better because I didn’t understand that we all have a unique purpose in life. That all changed after Emilia showed me what living a life of purpose looked like and this Year of Magical Learning Adventure that followed.

My idea of time management these days is fiercely protecting and graciously performing the activities that align to my unique purpose in as much as I can each day. I still have a long way to go, but the shift has been going on for 2 and half years. I know that I will have the best day ever, each day of my life if I’m doing what I know I’m supposed to do each and every day. Those activities will compound over time into something way bigger than just me if I’m lucky, but I really don’t care. All I care about is honoring the promise I made to my daughter each day by Living for 2 in all that I do and sharing that with others.

Purpose is the ultimate “time multiplier” that the author speaks so passionately about in this book.

That is what I call Purpose Value of Time!

Question: Are you leveraging your precious time to serve your purpose or someone else’s? Which would you prefer?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Procrastinate on Purpose