How to have more respect for your time
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How to Respect Your Time and Stop People Pleasing
Spotify Title: How to have more respect for your time (from Blueprints to Becoming)
Your Time Is Your Life
Your time is your life.
Every minute happens once. And how you spend it—that is how you live your life. How you spend each minute of each hour of each day.
I'm not saying this to stress you out and suggest every minute needs to be perfect. This is an invitation to be more intentional about how you can take responsibility for yourself and for your time.
Your time is so precious. It’s precious because it’s finite.
So respecting the fact that it's finite, respecting the fact that it's yours, and the fact that there are no do-overs...
"This is not a dress rehearsal."
That will help you to feel more at peace with how you are spending your time, how you are spending your life.
Daily Choices and Self-Awareness
Every day is unique—even when it feels repetitive. It only comes around once.
I have one of those One Line a Day for five years journals, and what's been so fascinating is noticing what I write down each night about how I spent my time.
I'm also doing morning pages, and what both of those things surface is:
The repetitiveness of being human, and
The places where I do have more choice than I realise, especially when I feel stuck or like I’m putting things off
I can make different choices to use my time in different ways.
Respecting your time is about making choices you can stand behind. That is an act of respect.
Where We Lose Respect for Time: People Pleasing
The main thing I see is people pleasing. And it’s insidious.
While it might feel noble to prioritise others' needs, it's often:
Counterproductive for you, and
Unhelpful for your relationships
Every time you anticipate someone’s need or change your plans or behaviour to please them, you're not actually respecting them either.
People pleasing might look like:
Stopping yourself from doing something you really want to do because others might not approve
Cancelling your own plans to make room for someone else
Saying yes to things you don't want to do
Filling your calendar with things that don’t feel good
Not following through on your own commitments—and feeling like you're ripping yourself off
Full and Radical Responsibility
So I want to invite you to take full and radical responsibility.
Even if you work for someone else, you chose that role. You chose to work for that company.
And if it’s no longer working for you, it’s your responsibility to make a change and choose to spend your time differently.
Taking responsibility for your time means:
Having your own back
Following through when you say you'll spend time in a certain way
Attention as a Currency
This is so linked to consumption and where we put our attention.
We spend so much time now consuming content. You're doing it right now on this podcast—and I hope it’s of benefit to you. Truly. But even that is still a choice.
"That choice of where to put your attention is also a choice of how to spend your time."
Whether it’s podcasts, scrolling, YouTube, audiobooks… those are all decisions.
And the tech giants? They're coming for your attention—and that means they’re coming for your time.
Reclaiming Time with Intentional Focus
What if you put your attention somewhere else?
I’ve been on a mission to reduce my screen time.
I'm now averaging an hour to an hour and a half per day.
And when you reduce your screen time drastically, you realise:
“Oh my god, I have so much more time on my hands. What am I going to do with it?”
Here’s what I’ve done instead:
Caring for my garden. I’ve sustained flowering plants all summer—even through a heatwave!
Reading more. I love reading, and now I finally have time for it.
There’s a direct correlation between where your attention goes and how you feel about your time.
We are each responsible for making choices that benefit us in those moments.
Takeaways: What It Means to Respect Your Time
Here's what I want you to walk away with today:
You are responsible for how you spend your time—every single day
What you say no to is just as important as what you say yes to
Value your own commitments and desires as much as (if not more than) your commitments to others
“No one will prioritise you if you do not prioritise yourself.”
A Personal Example: Morning Pages
Let me give you an example: Morning Pages.
I wanted to try Julia Cameron’s method—writing first thing in the morning. But I was worried about disturbing my husband.
Eventually, I said, “You know what? I just want to do this.”
Now? I’m weeks into it. It’s become a rhythm. And my husband? He’s fully supportive.
He literally opens one eye and says, “Go do your pages.”
If I had stayed stuck in worry about how it might inconvenience him, I would’ve missed this:
How good it feels to start my day like this
That I had support all along
Final Thoughts
If you’re not doing the things you want to do with your time, look in the mirror.
Ask yourself:
What thoughts are keeping me stuck?
In what ways am I trying to please other people?
How are my digital habits affecting my time?
Bit of a tough-love episode today, wasn’t it?
But I feel strongly about this.
We have to take responsibility for ourselves, for our lives, and for how we want to spend them.
Resources Mentioned
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (Morning Pages)
One Line a Day Five-Year Journal
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