I don’t have enough time.

There aren’t enough hours in the day.

There’s too much to do, not enough time to do it.

I often say phrases like these. Maybe you do too. There’s something important you should know about them.

They’re a lie. Every single one of them.

It’s not that there’s not enough time. For most of us, there’s plenty of time. It’s that we haven’t made certain things a priority.

At RandomC, people often tell me I need to watch this or that anime, and I invariably reply that I’d like to, but I don’t have the time. Really though, I’m not making it a priority. I rank “Keeping up with the current season of anime” above “Catching up on older series” because i’m an episodic blogger, and there are other things—working on my books, hanging out with friends, staying healthy, my 9-5 job—that I rank higher than that.

It’s not that I don’t have enough time, it’s that I’m not making it a priority. It just doesn’t feel right to say “That’s not a priority right now”, even when it’s true.

As long as you know what you’re saying, keep using those phrases. Just don’t mistake it for what it isn’t. There’s plenty of time. Some things just aren’t as important as others.