How Do You Spend Your TIme?

"Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions." - John Randolph

Time is perishable. It doesn't last forever. There is no such thing as saving time. It can only be spent. The only thing you can do with it is to spend it differently. Focus on spending time toward activities with higher value. Work hard not to waste time, for once it is gone, it is gone forever.

We know that everything we choose to do, requires time. Even if we do nothing, time continues to march on. We take time to daydream, we spend time complaining, we use time by sleeping in. Everything requires time. Time is either well spent, or lost.

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course! Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it  writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is  no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success! 

Time waits for no one. The clock is running...we must make the most of today.  Don't hesitate to seize the moment.

• To realize the value of one year: ask a student who has failed a final exam.
• To realize the value of one month: Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
• To realize the value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
• To realize the value of one day: Ask a daily wage laborer with kids to feed.
• To realize the value of one hour: Ask the lovers who are just waiting to meet.
• To realize the value of one minute: Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.
• To realize the value of one second: Ask a person who has just barely avoided an accident.
• To realize the value of one millisecond: Ask a person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.

That is not to say that sleeping in or doing something relaxing is a bad thing. It may be a necessary thing or something that you need to do to maintain your health and sanity. It's ok. You just need to realize that you have the choice and that you must feel good about your choices.

It is important that you use some of your time actually planning what you want to do with your time. That will ensure you get the things you need to, or have to get done, done.  According to the 10/90 rule, the 10% of time that you take to plan your activities carefully, in advance, will save you 90% of the effort involved in achieving your goals later. Planning your tasks in advance will dramatically reduce the amount of time that it takes you to do the actual job.

Equally as important is ensuring that you use some of your time focused on relationships.  Whether you are working on building, repairing, improving or creating new relationships, that time is irreplaceable. Spend time with the people you love and care about. 

Realize that every goal you want to achieve and everything you want to accomplish in life requires time.  One of the smartest things to do while setting goals is to figure out just how much time you need to invest to achieve that goal. Remember, productivity is never an accident!

The more you think about how you use your time, the better you will become. You are in control.  Lost time is never found again. Use your time wisely. Start today.  

Make today great!

Curtis

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." - Dr Seuss