On Time Management

Time is the currency of life. If you’re alive, what do you have? Time. Hence the concept of “spending” time just like we spend money. We also talk about “wasting” time, just like we waste money. The quality of your life is a function of how you spend your time. That’s why when we’re having fun, time tends to move quicker. When we’re bored, ten minutes may seem like one hour, and one day may seem like an eternity. Even though we measure time in hours, minutes, and seconds, it is really not a statistical concept, but an experiential
concept.

You cannot manage time. The so-called time management is really about priority management. We all have 24 hours a day, 60 minutes to an hour, and 60 seconds to a minute. No one has more or less. However, we all experience time and life differently. The difference is how you spend your time. It is important to spend your time doing things that take you closer to your vision. Doing things you are passionate about. That brings fulfillment, contentment, and satisfaction.

We talk about the past, the present, and the future. In reality, the only time we have is NOW. Life can only be lived in the present moment. Everything else is memory (the past) or an illusion (the future). Your life is as powerful now as it is going to get (Gary Zukav, Seat of the Soul). How much of that are you experiencing? Sometimes we mortgage the present to the past or the future (a future that may never come). “Sufficient for the day is it’s own troubles”
(Bible verse).

My take on managing time is managing how you live your life. How you invest in your relationships, how much you are available to share with loved ones, how much of yourself is given in service to others through sharing of yourself, your gifts and talents, how much you invest in developing yourself (where it matters), and to what extent you are alive and present
in each moment. To what extent you can seize the day, seize each opportunity, moment by moment.

In terms of self leadership and achieving your goals. It is important to have a plan. But that plan can only be lived one day at a time. Rather than waiting to exhale when we have achieved our goals and that journey is over, we can consider the fact that the journey is never over. Therefore it is not about the destination in itself but about bringing meaning into the journey. A vision and goals help to bring meaning into the journey. They help to set the direction for where we going, where we need to direct the train. Then we proceed with the
real deal – the journey, from one moment to the next.

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