“Make the most of your time”

November 4, 2009 by Milton Kamwendo
Filed under: Unleashing Greatness 

Henry Van Dyke once said, “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity”. Time is the most precious, yet perishable resource of all. If it is used well it can elevate a nonentity to a place of greatness and influence. When it is abused it can arrest someone in bitter mediocrity. The currency of the life of greatness is time. Maybe this is reason why over the centuries cliches like time is money and procratination is the thief of time have evolved.

Whoever does not value or respect your time will never respect your wisdom or contribution either. Time unfortunately cannot be stopped or stored; it can only be used or abused. Whether the passage of time will create more value and precious memories or misery and regret does not depend on the clock, it depends on the individual and his or her relationship with time. We can have, be or do whatever we make up our minds to do if we are willing to exchange our time for it.

“Time is in short supply ”
There are many times when I wish I could extend my day to 30 hours or my month to at least 50 days. Time, like money, is a scarce and highly perishable commodity. Because time is in short supply one has to invest in making his or her time pay the highest returns. Fortunately time has been there for as long as eternity and many people have found ways of using it well and this has led them to where they are.

When we are young, we can sleep all we want because there will always be time in the future. Most people sleep an average of 8 hours a day. This represents one third of the day and 2 ½ days of each week. For a person who will die at 50 years of age this represents nearly 20 years. For a person who will die at 80, this represents more than 25 years. To waste a third of our lifetime sleeping is not fair and justified if we fail to leave a legacy of greatness. It is therefore not suprising that in Proverbs 6:6-11, the Bible says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. The highway to any form of lack is the abuse of time.

“It all starts with us”
Our attitudes towards time determine what our lives will become. The clock can never be managed, its job is to keep ticking and making its rounds. What we can best manage is ourselves. The heart of time management is the management of self. We have to start by looking at our own goals, priorities, plans and habits. If we aim at nothing we will always be sure to hit it 100% of the time. Our goals should therefore be well defined and clear and we must focus on those activities that give us the highest return on effort. Things that matter most in our lives must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. It is also important for us to focus on things that are important and not things that are just urgent. Blocking time in our calendars to have appointments with ourselves is as important as working. We need to create time and space to think and to plan.

To your greatness,

Milton Kamwendo

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