00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on Episode 523 of the inspired Stewardship podcast. I'm Gina Johnson from Synergy Mindset coaching. I encourage you to find your own journey from surviving to thriving. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer. This idea of tying together something that you want to do with something that you don't want to do is a powerful one. But it comes to managing our time. See, this isn't a willpower trick, per se.
00:00:42 I mean, yeah, there is still a little bit of willpower in that You have to force yourself to actually execute on it. But the interesting thing is, once you begin to execute on it, welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world In today's episode about investing in others by stewarding in your time I talk with you about why there's a practical reason that we discount the value of the future,
00:01:36 why we can help our future self with a few simple techniques and why this is a powerful technique for managing time as we talk about stewarding your time. Wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without just taking too long?
00:01:55 It turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon when you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon,
00:02:03 and a small commission will come back to support the show just that quick. If you enjoy the show when you are ready to buy from Amazon,
00:02:11 just use inspired stewardship dot com slash amazon this time of the year. One of the things that kind of comes up over and over again is this idea of goals and resolutions and how this new start this new beginning of a new year is one of those times that we often use to set and create new realities.
00:02:34 You know, this New year, new you kind of movement and the truth is that there is a lot of power in beginnings.
00:02:43 There's a lot of power in transitions. There's a lot of power in those times where we do see a chance for a new beginning.
00:02:51 You know, whether it's a birthday of, ah, of a particular decade. Maybe when you're turning 40 when you're turning 30 we have a tendency to see those things as new beginnings,
00:03:01 and it really does help us begin toe do things that are different than what we've done before. But the truth is,
00:03:10 there's also some practical reasons why we discount the value of the future. You know, things air a rough if things air challenging right now,
00:03:21 we often will look forward and project the time that we have now the problems that we have now as if they're going to be in the future exactly the same as if what's happening today will never change.
00:03:37 You know, this is one of the problems with looking at things like whether it's a debt snowball where you're trying to project when you'll be debt free,
00:03:44 whether it's something like sitting down and looking at your goals and your productivity in your career, no matter what it is when we look to the future,
00:03:54 it's really hard for us. Sometimes, too, picture the reality of, ah, hopeful future. We discount its value.
00:04:03 We look at it as something that is just not riel, but the truth is hope. And looking to the future and looking at it as a powerful set of scenarios and possibilities is one of the most powerful things we can do to get us in tow action and keep us as an action while we're creating this new you.
00:04:28 This new reality. See, the truth is, willpower only goes so far. If you've ever tried before,
00:04:36 to will yourself to go to the gym every single day. You've probably discovered very quickly that that power runs out there.
00:04:44 There's a limit to just grit and do it. Sure, it works for a while, but it also turns out there is research that shows that if that's all you're doing,
00:04:53 is grinning and doing it just bearing it down and that it actually affects things like your health as well as your ability to be successful.
00:05:01 Instead, there's a couple of simple tricks that you can use that will help you with managing this sort of thing.
00:05:10 So one of them and I'm gonna talk about a few more on Saturday's episode as well. But for right now,
00:05:17 the one I want to focus on is this idea of temptation bundling. See, Let's say you've had a long day at work,
00:05:25 and you've tried to establish a habit of having an evening workout. But every day when you get home,
00:05:32 you're tired. Your will power is drained. Your ability to make decisions is drained, and instead you sit down on the couch and binge Netflix for an hour.
00:05:43 What happens is that temptation that that power of Netflix that draw to that pleasurable activity outweighs your will. Power's ability to force you to do something that in the long term is much better for you.
00:05:58 But right now just feels like work and discipline. And that's the exercise activity, and what you could do instead is you could do what's called temptation.
00:06:06 Bundling. This is identifying something that you really want to do. Let's say in this case, watch Netflix for an hour and linking it to the thing that you're not so thrilled about doing.
00:06:18 Maybe the only time you can watch. Netflix is while you're working out on the treadmill, you tie the act.
00:06:27 Fun activity to the less than fun activity is one of the reasons that I listen to podcasts whenever I'm exercising.
00:06:36 That's kind of my reward for exercising. Of course, it also has the benefit of distracting me and giving me something to think about and focus on beyond just the physical exercise.
00:06:47 This idea of tying together, something that you want to do with something that you don't want to do is a powerful one when it comes to managing our time.
00:06:57 See, this isn't a willpower trick, per se. I mean, yeah, there is still a little bit of willpower in that You have to force yourself to actually execute on it.
00:07:05 But the interesting thing is, once you begin to execute on it, it begins to build up where you look forward to your time on the treadmill.
00:07:14 Why? Because that's when you get to watch and catch up on your latest shows. You may even spend a little longer on the treadmill just so you can watch a little bit.
00:07:22 Maur Netflix This feedback loop of of tying something you want to do with something that's a challenge for you to do becomes a key technique to building the habit and managing your time.
00:07:37 And you can do this with a number of things. You can do it with audio activity. You could do it with video activity.
00:07:42 You can even do it with something like reading a book, and it doesn't have to be tied to physical exercise.
00:07:47 It could be tied to something else. It could be tied to updating your budget. Maybe you have a particular beverage that you really enjoy.
00:07:56 But now fix that and on Lee, tie that to the times that you're working on. Your goals are working on your budget or working on your money,
00:08:05 and that's when you get to have that particular drink that you enjoy. Maybe it's a particular tea or a glass of wine or something like that.
00:08:14 What you're doing is you're creating a neural connection between that pleasurable activity and that activity that you want to turn into a habit.
00:08:23 And if you do that for even just a very short amount of time, even a month or so,
00:08:28 you can build a much longer term habit much quicker than you would otherwise. So even though we look to the future and often discount its power,
00:08:39 we discount the fact that tomorrow will be different from today. And because of that, we can lose hope and we can begin toe.
00:08:46 Just try to grin and bear it and bear our way through his grit, our way through doing things with pure willpower,
00:08:53 which often runs out and then creates that very prophecy that we were worried about, of the future being as bad or the same as it is today.
00:09:02 Instead, tweak it and begin to use temptation bundling to begin to build the habit of doing that long term activity that you know is better for you.
00:09:16 Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener,
00:09:28 we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way toe Live your calling.
00:09:38 If you like this episode on the stewardship of time, be sure to sign up for our stewardship of time tips.
00:09:46 Siri's by going to inspired stewardship dot com slash time or texting 44222 time tips and that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time investor time,
00:10:08 your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact world.