Don’t Find Time, Make Time

Don’t Find Time, Make Time
Written by Holden Rethwill

If you know me, you know I love a good Arnold Schwarzenegger quote. Arguably the most iconic bodybuilder of all time, a quick google search will turn up a seemingly endless stream of inspirational quotes guaranteed to kick your booty into action and get you excited to head to the gym. If you look at the vast majority of these quotes though, there’s one underlying theme: hard work.

A second person I’ve recently found myself following more frequently is Jocko Willink. The retired Navy SEAL, famous for his phrase “Discipline Equals Freedom,” has somewhat burst onto the scene with his Jocko Podcast. Again, an endless stream of inspirational quotes with a similar underlying theme: hard work.

Where do these two vastly different individuals tie in together?

One is a bodybuilder, turned movie star turned politician. The other a Navy SEAL, turned author and speaker, Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast, and one of the scariest (in an intensity kind of way) humans on the planet.

I’ll tell you where.

Their love for hard work.

I found myself doing some reading the other day, and came across this quote from Jocko, “You don’t find time to do what is important. You MAKE time. GO.”

Reading this got me thinking back to a quote by Arnold many of you who have taken my classes, have heard recently. While speaking at the University of Southern California, Arnold gave one of his most inspirational speeches on setting goals and optimizing your time to find success. At one point in the speech he almost jokingly states “So it drives me nuts when people say we don’t have the time. You have 24 hours a day. We sleep 6 hours a day. So it gives you still 18 hours – there’s someone shaking their head out here in front they say probably ‘I don’t sleep 6 hours I sleep 8 hours’ – well just sleep faster.”

As comical as this statement is, it’s not the words themselves, but rather the underlying meaning behind them that should really resonate with us. Arnold is saying the exact same thing as Jocko. You don’t find time, you make time.

This is applicable to all areas of life that are of importance to us. Prioritize these areas of your life and make the time for them. If health and wellness is in this list of priorities (as I’m sure it is when you’re reading this blog), then you will make time for it. Take non-goal focused tasks that are of minimal importance and priority, and minimize and remove them. Time is our most precious commodity, and in order to optimize your time and your life, you have to make time for the things that are most important to you.

I’m not telling you to sleep less, and I hope that’s not what you got out of this. I’m simply trying to make a point that our lives are only so long, and we only have so many hours in the day, so why waste them on the things that aren’t making us better? Make the time today for your goals and your priorities and see how much more you can achieve.