Time is the one thing you can’t control. I was reading something written by Mark Cuban recently that said this and I wasn’t sure that I agreed.
Time is one thing you can’t get more of, make up or multiply. When your time is up, it’s over. There is no more.
The thing I think we forget about when it comes to time is that we can direct how we spend our time and what we choose to invest it in. Too often I think this particular lesson is overlooked and not taught in the homes or schools that teach us about success, money, careers and life.
Time is just that. 525,600 minutes a year that you are given every year of your life, from the first breath you take until the last.
So I wonder and ask you: What are you doing with your “life time”?
How are you spending it?
How are you investing it?
What choices are you making with the time you are given?
After all, you really don’t know how much time you have been given.
We say things such as “I’m running out of time,” or “There will always be another time to [blank]” or “I need time for [this or that].”
Have you taken the time to think about what is most important to you and how you would like to spend your “life time”?
Maybe time is a blur for you. Maybe it’s not something you think much about. Maybe it’s something you’ve always tended to take for granted…until someone you love and care about runs out of it, and you can’t get any more time with him or her.
Every day, I wake up and look at this picture:
This makes me question how I am spending my “life time”. It provides me with perspective. It makes me more aware of the time I have that day and causes me to pause and consider what I’m doing, who I plan to connect with, and what is the most important thing I can accomplish that day.
Og Mandino has a wonderful quote that says: “Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”
While this is more about attitude and how to treat those you interact with during the day, it is also about time.
What if YOU died at midnight?
Would you have lived the life you love?
Loved the people you had wanted to?
Done something that you had only imagined and dreamed of and left the legacy you desired?
Every day, every hour, every minute that you get, you have the opportunity to make a difference for yourself and so many others with your “life time”.
There is no more available. There is no end in sight. You’ll never know when your “life time” is going to run out.
What you do have is control over the choices you make and how you spend those precious seconds, minutes, hours and days.
You cannot simply let it go by, take what comes, and then wish you had spent it differently later. It doesn’t work like that. You cannot “repurpose” time. You cannot “take it back”. You cannot recast it.
So…are you living the life you want?
If your answer is not yes, then I encourage you to start to change directions by looking at how you spend your “life time” and with whom you are spending it.
If the thoughts you have, the things you do, the stuff you spend your time on, and the people you choose to spend your time with are not in alignment with the dreams you have, the accomplishments you seek, and the legacy you want to leave at the end of your life, then stop. Look. Listen. Evaluate. Recast your outlook and perspective on time.
Your “life time” clock is ticking – whether you are 2 years old or 92 years old.
When will it be your time to love?
When will it be your time to live the life you said you wanted?
When will it be your time to thrive and bring that which you only imagined to life?
What will it take for you to stop and reset your perspective about the “life time” you are choosing to live?
If you want something else, something different, something more, then start with your time.
Not sure how to take a peek at your time? Simply keep a journal for a week and record how you spend your time each day, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep.
Watch yourself as you interact with people during the week. Who and what do you say no to when you are asked for your time? Who and what are you saying yes to? Do these people, activities and opportunities fall into alignment with what you say you want?
Keep this simple.
After all, the clock is ticking – and I don’t want you to waste any more of your “life time” on what you don’t want.
Instead, reset your mindset and have the courage to look at your life through the eyes of your “life time”.
Remember: you always have enough time to make a new choice and change the life you have by taking a step toward the life you want. All you need to do is take the time to do it – a little bit more each day.
“You have the right to remain fabulous! Always!”