Episode 16: The Truth About Time – Why You Have More Than You Think

At some point, you stop and ask yourself a question that lands deeper than expected.

You pause mid-thought and wonder:

What if time was never the problem?

Not the hours on the clock or the schedule.
Not the responsibilities you juggle every day.

What if the real barrier was the story you were handed?

The one that says you’re too busy.
That you’re stretched thin.
That you’re behind and always will be.

You didn’t choose that story.
You learned it.

And the wild part is this:
You may have been living inside it not because it’s true, but because it’s familiar.

There comes a moment, though, when something shifts.
You stop repeating the lie and start hearing something quieter and far more honest.

It doesn’t shout, panic, or demand.

It whispers:

“You’re not out of time.
You’re out of alignment.”

And that is when everything begins to rise.

Time Is Not Something You Find

We spend most of our lives acting like time is something we need to hunt down.

As if it’s hiding from us or it’s scarce.
As if the right combination of productivity hacks might finally unlock it.

But here’s the truth I’ve come to understand:

Time is not something you find.
Time is something you choose.

And when you choose it, your entire life changes.

For years, I lived by the same script most people do.
“I’m too busy.”
“I have too much going on.”
“I don’t have time for the things I really want.”

And for a long time, that felt true.
Not because it was true, but because I kept telling myself it was.

This past year changed that in a way I didn’t expect.

The Moment I Realized I Wasn’t Short on Time

At the beginning of the year, something in me woke up.

It wasn’t dramatic.
There was no lightning bolt or big announcement.

It felt more like a warm pulse of recognition.

A quiet sense that said:
Your real life wants to break through now.

I wanted to write.

Not just journal.
Not just jot down thoughts I’d forget about a week later.

I wanted story and characters.
I wanted to finally give shape to a world that had lived inside me for decades.

And right on cue, the old script showed up:

“I don’t have time.”

I said it out loud and immediately felt how flat it sounded.
Heavy. Familiar. Untrue.

Because deep down, I knew the issue wasn’t time.

It was permission.

Permission to want something big, to take up space.
Permission to say, This matters to me.

Then a friend said something simple that cracked everything open:

“Your stories matter. Keep writing.”

That was it.

Once my identity heard that, the writing poured out.

Not because I suddenly gained extra hours in the day, but because I stopped treating my creativity like something optional.

I wrote Shadows on the Road, my first novel.
And once it was published, it became an international book, with readers far beyond my own corner of the world.

People started asking me the same question over and over:

“How do you find the time to do all of this?”

Here’s the honest answer:

I don’t find time.
I choose it.

Time Doesn’t Expand – You Do

Once I admitted that writing was something I wanted, time rearranged itself around that decision.

And no, life didn’t suddenly get easier.

The laundry still needed folding.
Work didn’t slow down.
Family life didn’t magically become lighter.

What changed was clarity.

When you get clear on who you are and what matters, the noise falls away.
Excuses lose their grip.
Old scripts dissolve.

Time expands for the person who stops abandoning themselves.

That realization alone reshaped how I move through my days.

The Lie We Learn About Time

We grow up hearing adults say, “There’s no time.”

Yet somehow, there’s always time to worry.
Time to stress and overcommit.
Staying in situations long past their expiration dates.

Time was never the issue.

Patterns were.
Fear was.
Conditioning was.

It has never been about the clock.

It has always been about the story you tell when you look at it.

For years, I treated time like something outside of me.
Something I had to chase, stretch, bargain with.

The shift came when I realized this:

Time is not outside of you.
Time is something you decide how to use.

Once I adopted the mantra “I have time for everything I want to get done,” everything changed.

Not because I was convincing myself, but because I finally understood it.

Suddenly, the pockets of time appeared.
Creativity flowed.
Effort felt lighter.
Projects aligned.

Life stopped feeling like juggling and started feeling like breathing.

When Identity Changes, Time Follows

Writing wasn’t just about making space in my schedule.

It was about alignment and identity.
About deciding that the thing inside me was allowed to be real.

Being an author stopped being something I squeezed in.
It became part of who I am.

Now I’m actively working on the trilogy I imagined for years, books two and three, and they finally feel within reach because I’m no longer trying to “fit them in.”

I let them live in the time I choose to give them.

When you choose time with intention, life doesn’t speed up or slow down.
It aligns.

Time Is a Canvas, Not a Cage

Here’s where things get a little philosophical, but stay with me.

Time is man-made.
We all know that.

But we forget it.

We treat time like a cage when it’s actually a canvas.

It expands when you expand and it bends when you choose differently.
It becomes abundant when you stop speaking scarcity.

The reason I now “have time” for writing, podcasting, work, family, and building what matters to me isn’t because I’m doing something extraordinary.

It’s because I stopped telling the lie that there wasn’t enough.

Decisions create time.
Energy creates time.
Identity creates time.

Once you know who you are, how you spend your time becomes obvious.

Three Shifts That Change Everything

You don’t need to overhaul your life or wake up hours earlier or redesign your entire routine.

You need three small shifts.

1. Stop Saying “I Don’t Have Time”

Even jokingly.

Your brain believes the sentences you repeat.
If you tell it that your life is packed and impossible, it will filter everything through that belief.

Instead, say:

“I have time for what matters to me.”

Say it often.
Say it when things feel messy or when you feel overwhelmed.

You’re not lying to yourself.
You’re retraining your mind to recognize capacity instead of limitation.

2. Give Your Calling the First Ten Minutes

Ten minutes is enough to change your trajectory.

Ten minutes of writing or creating.
Building the thing you keep saying you want.

Your identity responds to consistency, not duration.

Ten minutes a day can change how you see yourself.

3. Notice Where Time Leaks

Time isn’t disappearing.
It’s being scattered.

Scroll time.
People-pleasing.
Overexplaining.
Saying yes out of guilt instead of alignment.

Pull it back.

You don’t need more hours.
You need fewer leaks.

Your Invitation This Week

For the next seven days, say this every morning:

“I have time for everything I want to get done.”

Then choose one thing you’ve been “too busy” to do and give it ten minutes.

That’s it.

Watch what happens when your identity shifts from someone who never has enough time to someone who creates it.

Because once you stop bargaining with limitation, life opens.

You have more time than you realize.
You always have.

Sometimes, you just need someone to remind you.

If you want the full experience, listen to Episode 16 of the Motivated Savages Podcast, where I walk through this story in my own voice.

And if this message resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear that time is not their enemy; it’s theirs to claim.

Live bold. Ignite your path. That’s the Savage Way.