We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day. — Gayle Forman
“Do you have a few minutes to look over this?”
“When you have a moment, can you do this?”
“Hurry, act now before it’s too late!”
These common expressions lead our schedules and fill our day with meaningless busy work. By the end of the day, what did we really accomplish? A whole bunch of nothing.
1,440. That’s the number of minutes we have each day. Phrase it however you’d like, but that’s all we got. We spend those minutes in different ways, yet most of us believe we don’t have enough of them. This causes us to overcommit and under deliver, which is a recipe for stress, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, and a lack of control.
But it’s okay, we’ll eventually get to that important project that we’ve been meaning to do. Or start that new art project that we’d love to work on. If our schedules are always full, we’re left with an interesting question.
When will we do the things that are important to us and truly add value to our lives?
Often times, we reply with this dangerous answer: When I have time.
But we never have time. This answer serves as a pacifier. It keeps us quiet for now, but eventually, we are going to get all worked up again. It’s a quick fix, but not an effective one.
Instead, we need to make time. Events and things are always going to come up. Determine what deserves your time, and block it off on your calendar. Defend that time like it’s your most precious prize, because it is. Our time is all we have and we need to use it on what’ll really serve us.
But what about meaningful events and activities that come up at the last minute? What about that friend who happened to make a last minute stop from out of town? If we create some breathing room in our calendar, we’ll have some flexibility for the inevitable change that comes up. This solution isn’t foolproof and exceptions always exist, but this strategy can help us out in most cases.
Life is what we make of it. If we make time for the important moments, we are making room for a meaningful life. If we are allowing our time to be stolen by things that don’t really matter, there is still time to change. But act now, a given day has 1,440 minutes, but we never know what the next one will bring, or if it will arrive at all.
If you had $1,440 dollars, would you let them go to waste? Then why waste your time? Some say “time is money” but in reality, time is more important than money. We can get more money, but once our time is gone, it’s gone. Act now as if you didn’t have another minute to spare. Because the truth is, we don’t.
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