It is quite unfortunate to note that many people simply live with no idea where they are going or what awaits them. They simply exist with nothing to show for their existence. The only thing they know how to do better is mark time. This is clearly seen in the way many manage their time. It’s worth remembering that a week from now will be a week from now and what becomes of you after that will be determined by how you use your time right now. Whether you handle it well or not, either way you will surely achieve a certain result only the result might not be what you expected.
Start by taking down some of the best time enemies. Probably the strongest of them has only two initials…TV. Is your TV time cutting into your productive time? Take this little test. Calculate how many hours of television you watched last week. Be honest with yourself. On average, people spend 20 to 30 hours watching television each week, not thanks to the movie industry that is released almost every week. If you reduce that even a little bit, you have more time to take the actions that will lead to success.
What about the time spent surfing the Internet with no end result? Many times we just sit behind the computer system wasting the precious gift of time that God has given us. The average person spends most of their time online in the chat room chatting with people they don’t know anything about from Adams.
I really wonder what life will be like for some if Yahoo, Hotmail or most chat rooms decide today to close their chat rooms. Imagine what our world would have turned out to be like if all those hours were turned into doing things that add to our lives. The problem is NOT that there is not enough time. Time does not expand. The problem is that many load themselves with too many irrelevant activities. They always want to participate even in activities that do not necessarily demand their attention.
You often hear people say that they are busy. But the question is how productive is what they are doing with their time. Don’t confuse being busy with working efficiently: Activities can relieve stress, not accomplish goals. By focusing on less, regularly prioritizing on a fixed schedule, you can achieve much more in less time. Time management is an interesting concept. Although it may not be possible to own or control time, you can manage yourself in time: your awareness of what you are doing and how you are doing within the construct of time. In fact, you can determine what you do with the 24-hour gift you receive each day from God.
You definitely have the ability to influence your experience of time and what you do with your time. What you put your attention on increases, and so does your perception of how you use your time. It’s about focus. Focusing your attention is something you need to learn if you really want to make the most of your time. Since you can’t focus on everything, you have to be selective about what you spend your time on. This means that we must prioritize. The key to success is how you allocate your time to the important ones.
“If you want to make good use of your time, you have to know what is most important and then give it everything you have.” ~Lee Iacocca~
You’ve no doubt heard the phrase “time value of money.” It means that a dollar in his hand today is worth more than a dollar in his hand a year from now. Why? For what you can do with that dollar over the next year. You can invest that dollar in any business or even an interest-earning project and have $1.05 at the end of the year. If you decide to take your money in one year, your opportunity cost (lost investment) will be five cents. Not to mention what inflation will have done to your purchasing power within the time period considered.
Think about how many hours you are wasting every time you engage in these irrelevant activities. Apply the same thought process when you actually ARE working as well, maximizing your time. Decide what is the best use of your time each time. By keeping this in mind at all times, you can always decide what is the best use of your time. Time is money and money is time. So spend them wisely.
