Do You Value Your Time?
Time
Pal, I thank you for choosing to read this article. And CONGRATULATIONS! You are going to enjoy an intellectual and imaginary trip across one of the important components of our life - Time!
Actuallyyou are going to 'Time Travel' because you are going to enter this journey as what you are now, travel through your personal time, thoughts and concepts, and emerge out at another end where you findyourself in a different world because by then you would have realized a different potential in you - A different 'YOU. Welcome!!!
When we give a search either in the worldwide web or the public library in our locality we can find lots of wisdom on time (NO, we are not going to talk about time management here). We can find some commonthreads running through all of them like prioritizing, making a to-do list, focusing on the most important task etc. Most of such books give us detailed ideas on how we can fill our productive day with rewarding activities.
Well, that is good, but there is another thing that is more important than these. It not only determines how satisfied we feel at the end of the day, but also on how we fare in the long run... life.Not only does our bank balance hinge on it but also our families, friends, associations, network, health and success. Let us come to in a while.
We all like the word 'achieve, dont we? When we look into the lives of achievers we find that they had one common ingredient. Without a single exception everyone shared it. Without that 'success nitro-boost'most certainly none of them would have reached the heights they reached.
All of us can have that same ingredient which spurred, stimulated, and motivated them into action, which resulted in great achievement. If you already have it, then it is wonderful; this article willdeepen your belief in the same.
It is this ingredient that will differentiate between achievers and the rest. It is this ingredient that will decide whether we will become achievers. Almost everyone knows this ingredient, but thequestion is whether we applied it to work. The only requirement is that we have to reiterate ourselves of this truth every time we are planning to start a work. So this is not new for you, but this will certainly be refreshing.
What are we looking at here?
Let me tell you of an incident and then the one ingredient that I am talking about will become crystal clear.
The other day I and a couple of my colleagues got into a discussion on how our bosses are so productive and have reached up the rung in their professions. Truly a momentous topic!
The question came up,"How are our bosses able to do what they do? What is their formula? What is that key? There must be something that they follow which makes them so productive and constructive. What is that success ingredientthat we have to get hold of to reach higher in any endeavour?"
As we were contemplating, one of the colleagues came up with his response, "They value their time."
Whoa!!! Simple as it sounds but has great wisdom buried in it.
Achievers 'value' their time. (Oh, didn't I know this before?) It is because they value their time that they are able to fill that time with worthy stuff.
Do you value your time? Some one might say, 'Come on, everyone values their time'. Still someone else may say 'Yes, I very much do'. Let us think though this further.
Valuing our time is not just believing time is money. And valuing our time is neither just believing it never comes back once lost. Valuing our time is more than these.
Suppose you are posed with a question - What is the value of 1 minute of your day? ...Now please don't bother yourself with the ordeal of calculating your salary per day/hour/minute. That is not needed.
What price tag would 'you' put on to a single minute of 'your' life?
Did I hear someone shouting 'a million dollars' (Ha, Ha, Haa!)
That does sound like a good answer but unfortunately even that one does not really say anything on what one personally thinks about his/her time or about the impression and opinion on how important his/hertime is. Your answer can tell a lot about your success attitude.
Benjamin Franklin once said, 'Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of'. Steve Jobs observed, 'It's really clear that the most precious resource we have is time'.There is the cue that we get from many more thinkers through the centuries and it comes in one simple sentence - 'Your time is priceless'. Doesn't the Bible talk about '... making the most of your time'?
A person who truly believes his/her time is priceless will not be content in just getting financial compensation for the time spent but will also truly want that his/her time to be filled with constructive stuff.
Anyone who desires to be an achiever and reach great heights, be it physical, personal, professional, spiritual or social, has to realize that his/her time is 'priceless'.
Using this principle to our benefit is not tough. First, it is important to realize that our time is 'mighty priceless'. Second, instead of asking ourselves, 'Is the thing that I am planning to dovaluable or enjoyable?', before we decide to start something, we should ask, 'Is the thing that I want to do deserve my priceless time?' Does that ring a bell... ? It is when you believe 'your' time ispriceless that you truly come to the realization that 'you' are priceless.
Achievers value every single minute of theirs. You cannot find true achievers standing near the foyer for half an hour chatting about the latest craze in cinema. You will not find achievers go for a 10 minutes coffee break that swells into an hour. You will not find achievers sitting before their TV in what seems like a trance. You will not encounter achievers sitting idly before the computer screen and wasting their batteries.Every minute, every hour, every day is priceless... 'Achievers value their time'. Are you an achiever? ... the way you look at and value your time will tell you the answer.
Somebody said, 'Even a person with nothing has time'. That is the universality of time and that calls for some serious contemplation on how we value it.
I might not know where you are now, your ethnicity, your education, your colour, your nationality, your family etc. Each one of us is born with many differences but everyone has 24 hours in a day...If time is the only commodity that is distributed equally then how much more should we value ours... ? If such is not the importance of time John F. Kennedy would not have said, 'We must use time as a tool and not as a couch'.
Now we would do well to make this daring statement - 'No amount of prioritizing or time management can help us become achievers unless we personally know and believe that our time is priceless and value it'.
If we don't value our time nobody else is going to.
Tomorrow, if your friend wants to extend your tea time into an hour, what will your response be? Suppose you are at home in the evening with a couple of hours more before sleep will you resort to continuousTV or will you be able to find something that deserves your time? When you travel in a bus with 3 hours to spare, will you plan your time for worthy activities?
Well, you've reached the end of your time travel! Please emerge out as a new person who values his time. If we all understood and reminded ourselves that time is 'mighty priceless' and more so are we, wewill reach greater heights in whatever we choose to set our hands on.
Let me finish with a quote by Michael Althsuler - 'The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot'. Hence go forth in to the realm of achievers. Go into the territory of people who value time.Glorious days are waiting for you, so cruise forward into prosperity by 'valuing your time'.
May God bless you! Amen!
Copyright © 2011 Sam Vijay Kumar
About the Author: I am a biotechnologist from India, working in the field of bio-medical research, with interest in theology, positive thinking, philosophy, creative writing and in living a purposeful life, thereby contributing to fellow humans. My personal desire and struggle is to be keen to (and) learn anything that will uplift human life and place us in a better position at handling the challenges that life throws at us. To discuss and write about issues of life, thoughts and mind are some of my passions.
I have received a lot from this world through many thinkers and their writings. and hence I want to contribute something to this world by presenting my thoughts to the world as well in these areas. 'Positive people' are the ones that I am most comfortable interacting with. I am sure you who are reading this are a positive person and am glad to have connected with you.
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Courage - Are You Game Enough?
Decision Making
New Lesson For The New Year
The Power Of Intense Belief