Dude, you need to do something completely different

Temporal abundance is when you build a narrative around time that supports and enhances your overall experience of fulfillment and calm.

This tool is a must have in any personal creativity management system. Because once you learn how to take yourself out of the victim position in regards to time, you can make as much of it as you want. Feeling less stressed and pressured and rushed in your daily routine, now you can finally have some space to start an exciting new intellectual endeavor.

Doesn’t that sound blissful?

Well, maybe not at first.

As my therapist once said, the only thing worse than not having enough time is having too much of it. This is the paradox of the creative life. Once you arrive at that place of temporal abundance, you might not know what to do with yourself. When you’re a creative and ambitious person who is suddenly blessed with undirected kilowatts of energy to redirect into new meaningful pursuits, there’s a whole new layer of anxiety that accompanies that gift.

Wow, you wonder to yourself, now I actually have breathing room in my daily routine, how the hell will I fill that space?

Years ago, my company went through a particularly slow period. My entrepreneurial schedule was barren empty with no contracts, meetings, accountabilities or clients requiring my attention. It sucked. Every single day was a battle against inertia, just trying to find activities to pass the time.

But then, while having coffee one afternoon with a colleague of mine, I had a revelation. Apparently my friend could tell from my energy, body language and tone of voice that something was off. After patiently listening to me whine about having no exiting projects on the horizon, he flat out said:

Dude, you need to do something completely different.

Best eight words anybody ever said to me.

And he was right. It was time to change lanes and engage with something new, not just better. No more of these lateral moves marginally improving things I was already doing. The move was getting out of my comfort zone and moving into work that actually gave me equity and allowed me to elevate, not just execute.

Talk about a schedule filler. The next few months of my life were rife with momentum and transformation and fear and confusion. Precisely the kind of fuel a creative person needs to take themselves to the next level.

If you’ve recently found yourself with a surplus of time and energy, consider doing something completely different. Something you’ve never done before.

Your boredom will disappear like a fart in the wind.

What if your sudden influx of discretionary time was the invitation to transformation that you’ve been waiting for?