630-484-2336 ben@bedo.org

When I asked my brilliant client, “What do you want to focus on today?”, he replied, “I’d like you to help me build a time machine.”

Now I thought he was going to want to go back in time and undo/do something different, but curiosity got in the way and so I asked, “Well, what do you want to be able to do with it?”

“I want to slow time down,” he said.  And then proceeded to tell me how everything is going by so quickly–seemingly faster and faster.  I got what he was wanting.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I do not know the first thing about how to build a time machine.  I don’t even know what a flux capacitor really is, except a cool glowing triangle that requires 1.21 jigawatts.  But I got a hunch, so I followed it.

“So when you’re really connected to your Values, when you’re doing something that taps into that experience, how do you feel?  Does time slow down or speed up?”

Now, I was expecting him to say, “Well, when I’m engaged with my Values, time speeds up”, you know, like “Time flies when you’re having fun?”, except the coaching version is more like, “Time flies when you’re connected to your Values.”

“And of course,” I would quickly follow up with, “when you’re not engaged with your values, then time seems to slow down and whatever you’re doing takes forever.”

However, my client (did I mention he was brilliant–as they all are) replied instead, “Well…” and paused a moment as he thought about it, and then continued, “when I’m really into my values, then time seems to slow down.”

WHAT??? that’s the complete opposite of my brilliant theory.  But again, curiosity got the best of me so I pursued his thought.  “Really, how so?”

“Well, when I’m really doing something that I love and I’m fully into it, I can then completely experience every thing about it.  Time just slows down.  It’s like when athletes get into ‘the zone’.”

And that’s when I got where he was pointing.  I thought back to the times whenI’ve been focused and truly doing something that I love  and time seemed to slow down.  I could experience everything fully and nothing slipped past my notice.  It was only when I tried to multi task or do several things at once that suddenly time sped up and I didn’t have any time to accomplish anything.

Case in point, earlier today I had some free time inbetween clients and calls.  “Hooray,” I thought, “now I can get ALL this stuff done.  And then I go about scrambling trying to write a blog post, check social media and email, send out some marketing emails and do my laundry.  And by the time my next client calls, I’ve gotten barely anything accomplished.

However, during the short period of time between my last client and next, I felt inspired to write this out and share it with you.  And since this was the only thing I did, I managed to knock it out and send it off to you in record time.

Then again, it seems when I’m truly connected to my Values, then time just disappears.  So maybe it works both ways, and at the same time even.

In any event, it seems that Values are the secret to expanding or contracting time.

Thoughts?  Ideas?  What comes up for you?  Let’s all work together to create one awesome time machine we can all give our clients.