There are so many quotes and sayings about time. Some of them say there isn’t enough time, some say time mustn’t be wasted, some talk about using time wisely.
It’s amazing what some people accomplish in a day, much less a week or a month! And after a few years have passed, we look back at those people and say, “Wow, how did you do it?” When you have a specific, measurable, time-bound goal to work toward, your use of your time becomes really important.
I completed my undergraduate degree over a seven-year period while working full-time. Sometimes I had a full-time course load in a term. Sometimes I took courses during spring and summer semesters. Some of my co-workers and friends shook their head and said, “I don’t know how you do it.” If I mentioned being tired, they encouraged me to take a break. I took a few semesters off, but knew that I wanted to finish my degree in six years and knew that I had to work the plan to make that happen. I took a year longer than planned and that was all right too.
No Time to Sleep
The Rank Society video below inspired me to think about how I spend my time and what I want to achieve in my life. The narrator talks a lot about giving up sleep in order to have more time; but before you give up sleep the question is:
How do you spend your waking hours?
Please take a few minutes to watch the video below before continuing.
http://youtu.be/XbZnCGyPneo
We’ve all heard about the importance of a good night’s sleep; personally, I prefer to get eight hours of sleep nightly. But I have stayed awake all night to write an essay, I have stayed awake all night to travel. Maybe you’ve stayed awake all night to prepare a document for your boss or a presentation for work. If you’re a parent, you’ve probably sacrificed sleep to play with your children and to take care of them when they’re sick. You may not want to, but usually if something is important you will give up sleep to accomplish your goals.
The fact is that unless you are crossing time zones, we each have twenty-four hours in a day and the way that you use your time greatly affects every aspect of your life – from work to sleep to play, including time spent with family and friends. Most of us choose to spend our time based on our priorities, certainly that’s the case for me. But lately, I’ve learned something else about time and the way you and I spend time; the way we choose to spend our time is based not only on our priorities but also on either what we know we will gain as a benefit from time spent doing something or on what we believe we will gain as a benefit from time spent doing something.
I knew that as long as I completed all the coursework and earned all the required credits, which are both things that I knew I could do, I would earn my undergraduate degree; which I did. But some roads in life are not as clearly laid out. There might be no specific requirements to complete and no specific deadlines to the goal that you want to accomplish. And perhaps as a result, you don’t believe that the time you spend working toward your goal is time well spent.
You may not know whether or not all your time and hard work will pay off and you may be filled with discouraging, disheartening “what if” thoughts. This is why what you believe plays an all-important role in achieving your goals.
Whatever you are trying to achieve, you will stop dedicating your time to it if you allow yourself to stop believing that it’s possible.
Decide what is important to you and spend your time honouring that, whatever it is. When I set priorities and personal goals for myself and I allow time to pass without working my plan, I can literally see my goals slipping further into the future or my dreams disappearing altogether!
Live the wealthiest life by honouring yourself and the time you have every single moment of your life!
I hope that the video inspires you as it does me.