Life has no remote, you have to get up and change it yourself!
Time is the bittersweet memory of yesterday, the vast, vital reality of today, and the passionate anticipation of tomorrow.
When we think of time, we typically think of it in its most simplistic form – hours in a day, minutes in an hour, seconds in a minute, and so on. As mundane as time often seems in our daily routines, we seldom consider its unleashed power on our lives.
Why, minutes in an hour, seconds in a minute, and so on. As mundane as time often seems in our daily routines, we seldom consider its unleashed power on our lives.
Indeed, as we strive each day to be the best we can be in all areas of our lives, we find ourselves in a race against time, often feeling powerless as it relentlessly ticks away.
Nevertheless, time – put in the context of how you can achieve a fulfilling and successful life – can become your best ally; it is your greatest resource for achieving successful self-management.
Without the ability to manage your time prudently and profitably, you will find your journey towards success confusing and clumsy instead of structured and purposeful.
The gift of time has the potential to enrich your life financially and personally. Spend it however you choose for profit or pleasure.
Your supply of time is equal to the time allotted to the wealthiest magnate, the most popular entertainer or the world’s top performer. Because time is perishable, it cannot be saved or stored.
Whether you use it productively and wisely or waste it foolishly, it is used up each day. If it is used profitably, you can look back to the growth and accomplishments of the past with satisfaction, look forward to the excitement of achieving new goals in the future, and at the same time, live in full enjoyment today!
Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed
Of course, you’d like to say “I control my own time.” Too often, however, your time is in a very real sense manipulated by others – your boss, the people you work with, your family, and all sorts of people who ask for a portion of your time.
While the requests and demands of others play a large role in determining how your time is spent, it is literally true that you control your own time.
You either control it by making a conscious decision about what you will do, or – by failing to make such a decision – you unwittingly hand over the control of your time and your life to someone else.
When you fail to accept responsibility for controlling your own time, someone else is always around who is willing to take over. If you cannot organize your work time on your own initiative, your supervisor or boss is forced to dictate your work pattern.
If you cannot set your own priorities and choose your own activities, the claims pressed upon you by others will take over your time – and your life.
Be aware today of how many times someone says to you, “Do you have a minute?” Unfortunately, you almost always take considerably more than a minute to answer a question, give a piece of information, or exchange pleasantries. By the time half a dozen people have asked for “a minute,” you may find that half the morning has slipped by without any priority work items completed.
When you allow others to control your time, set your priorities for you, and dictate your activities, remember that they will do so according to their own priorities, needs, and goals – no matter how much they respect or admire you. No one else can understand your needs and goals as you do. Consequently, their needs dictate the decisions they make and the activities they urge upon you.
Setting goals and reaching them is at the heart of what you lose the ability to do when you don’t manage and plan your time.
THE VALUE OF TIME
We all want to be able to say we are successful, but are we and by whose definition? When does it start, when does it finish and how the heck to you achieve it?
It can be said you are successful when you are moving purposefully toward your goals. Success is not postponed until you finally reach your goals; its experience begins immediately, once you have set your goals and have started to move towards them.
Talking about success is talking about “life.” And talking about “life” is talking about “time” because time is what life is made of.
When you know how much your time is worth, delegating relatively unimportant or lower value tasks becomes easier.
When you control your own time and hence life…
You are no longer wandering in a wilderness, unsure of your destination, but are confidently treading a clearly charted path to your chosen destiny.
You are no longer a puppet dancing when someone else manipulates the strings, but are the star performer in the drama of your own life.
Too many people spend high value time on a low value job.
Unless you know what your time is worth and how to evaluate the time cost of what you do, it is almost impossible to make a correct decision or to evaluate properly what action to take in any given situation.
The chart below shows what your time is worth by the hour and minute, based on 244 eight hour working days per year (assuming a five-day week less vacation and holidays).
If we could only make sure every hour was an earning one, especially when we are self employed we’d have much heavier pockets!
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