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Where does time go when we lose track of it? You know, when we sit down “for a couple of minutes” and get so absorbed that when we glance up, an hour—or more—has passed without our noticing? And who puts on the brakes when time drags in the face of a mountain of postponed paperwork? The minutes don’t speed up or slow down, but we get the feeling they do.

This perception is what’s called emotional time. It doesn’t adhere neatly to seconds, minutes and hours. But it exerts extraordinary influence over our productivity, our creativity, and the joy we find in our work.

Put Time On Your Side

The beauty in this fact of subjective perception is that it makes time an ally rather than an adversary. By acknowledging the power of emotional time—and where it comes from—we can begin to use that power to our advantage. Instead of fighting against time, trying to find more minutes, more hours, we can begin to invest our emotional energy creatively—and make the most of the time we have.

For example, one of the first things that playing with emotional time does is to change the perception that time is linear. The fact is we don’t always have to follow a set sequence.

The next time you’re working on a project, do the one or two obviously critical things first. But then bring emotional time into the equation. Decide the remaining sequence of events and tasks based on what you feel like doing next, and how much time each task requires. And then watch what happens—to your energy levels, to your productivity, and to your time.

Sometimes our fight with time is really a fight with our To Do list. It may not be in the order that our brain likes. So change the emotional stakes. Change the order. You still get the tasks done—and without feeling like a slave to the To Do list.

The importance of emotional engagement can’t be overestimated. The truth is, if we want action, we need emotion. Curiously, the secret to becoming emotionally engaged is to understand and leverage how we think.

Play To Your Strengths

How we think drives much of what we do, and determines much of what we need in order to work smarter instead of harder. So knowing and maximizing your natural strengths begins with understanding how you think.

Here are three simple questions that can reveal some of the basics of how you think, and what that means for you in terms of what ignites you, what motivates you, and what your time needs are:

1. Do I need the big picture before I can get started or do I prefer the details and what’s expected of me first?
   
   [Putting either one into place will ignite you and get you into motion.]
   
   
2. Do ideas excite me or is it the focus on the task that’s to be accomplished that turns me on?
   
   [Getting the ideas or the task clear will motivate you and bring a sense of personal contribution and energy.]
   
   
3. Do I need time to plan the logical steps in a project or do I prefer to jump right in so I can see as I go where the project is headed?
   
   [Putting this time need in place will result in you enjoying and producing a better end product.]

Our strengths point to what we love doing, where we go first, given the opportunity.

And while we may learn other skills, our natural strengths are the outcome of how our brain is “wired.” If we allow our inherent strengths to drive our strategies, we will be successful in the long term.

One of the most common signs of ignoring those internal strengths is procrastination. If our external strategies are out of sync with our internal strengths, we tend to put off the tasks on the To Do list. On the other hand, by combining the knowledge of your personal thinking strengths with your creative use of emotional time, you can put yourself on an entirely different time path.

Make Use of The Mind’s Eye

This dynamic pairing of mind and emotion can often be leveraged most effectively with adaptive, visual tools.

Our brains are the ultimate multi-taskers. They’re not only capable of creating several thoughts, ideas and scenarios at once, that’s their natural way of functioning. The challenge for many of us is when we have to translate all those intricate, interrelated ideas into clear, real-time communication. It’s as if our brains think in 3-D and our speech and writing exists in 2-D.

So how do we bridge that gap without losing too much in the translation? By simulating on paper what the mind’s eye sees. Visual tools can give real time a glimpse of the mind’s simultaneous time. One example of this is constellation thinking where different multiple connections can be seen.

In traditional problem solving, a problem is observed, dissected, reconstituted and solved by a deliberate, linear process. Each step reveals new data, which increases new understanding, which leads to the next logical step, on to the conclusion.

In constellation thinking, the central problem or thesis is surrounded by a cluster of related issues or ideas. Each element in the constellation is in constant, simultaneous contact with every other element. The energy explosion of this simultaneity is exponential. Solutions frequently come rapidly and in multiples. More than one viable solution often comes out of the same time frame.

A constellation “map” is an exciting way to bring those multiple ideas into focus while visually showing connections that might be otherwise overlooked. It opens participants to associational thinking—being able to make connections not only between similar things, but also between dissimilar ones.

Setting the mind free with visual tools that are as adaptable and freely associational as the mind itself transforms our experience both of work and of time. With visual tools we can experience new clarity, new speed and new emotional energy. Those are all invaluable assets in making the most of our (amazingly brief) 24-hour day—having the time of our life with the time of our life.

CereCore^®Institute, Bellevue Washington, provides consulting and innovative programs in applied thinking processes for leaders, teams and individuals.