Happy Wednesday everyone, today I’m taking the time to write about TIME, more specifically, how you should value your time and make the most out of it for your advantage. How many times have you said or heard “I just don’t have time” or ” I wish the day had more hours!” I’ve been there. Many, many times. In fact, I feel that way more than I should. Time is limited, we can’t get more of it, there’s no magical potion that extends the hours, the days, the months. It’s a limited resource, and precisely because it’s a limited resource, we should be managing it to our advantage.
Time is the most valuable thing we have. What we do with it defines us, shapes us, sets the ground for our future. We are constantly complaining that we don’t have time for this, time for that, but have we really thought about what exactly are we doing with the time WE ACTUALLY have? Have you given some serious thought at how exactly are you spending your time? Are you being efficient? Are you spending it to grow, evolve, and propel yourself to a better person, or are you wasting it in procrastination, or even worse, letting other people waste it for you?
YOU decide what to do with your time, therefore, it’s in you HOW you spend it. You decide how to make it count. We need to be aware that how we spend our time significantly impacts our day-to-day and overall wellbeing. While we can all set high expectations as what we need to accomplish with the time we have, IF we manage it productively and to our advantage, I can guarantee you that at the end of the day, even if you didn’t manage to cross off the list all the tasks you had set for yourself to accomplish, you’ll be closer to making them happen. You’ll be closer to your goal. It just takes one step to move forward, and when you’re moving forward you’re closer to achieving your goals. There’s a sense of fulfillment when we have spent our time wisely. There’s a sense of fulfillment when the actions we take are nurturing. Spend your time in activities that make you a better person, that fulfill you, that expand your knowledge, that add more valuable layers to your life and relationships.
Ask yourself what are you doing with the time you have to get you closer to the goals you have set for yourself. Meal prep if you want more time during the week to do other things other than cooking. Workout everyday if you want to be more fit and feel better. Take that online course if you want to be more knowledgeable about a certain subject. Spend time with your friends and family if you want deeper connections and better relationships. Prioritize your commitments and tasks to be a better professional. Give your time a purpose.
Stop thinking of what you would do if you had more time to do this or that, and start doing it right NOW with the time you actually have. A 40, 30, 20, 10min window dedicated to your personal growth, whether is professional or personal, is time well spent. Make a list of your priorities, establish what’s important for you, what’s important for your growth as a human being, as a professional, as a mother, father, friend, and then assign how you’re going to spend the time you have according to your needs. The only way to move forward is to take steps to be better, and if you’re wasting your time or letting someone else waste it for you, you’re going to get stuck. Time is precious! You can’t get it back. You decide how to spend it. Don’t waste it. Make it count. Whether it means waking up an hour earlier to enjoy some quiet time, a cup of tea or coffee, read the news, advance in that program you’ve been taking, exercise, stretch, meditate, or simply taking a mid-day break to walk, reset your mind, have a thoughtful conversation with a friend, or whatever it is you feel would be beneficial for your mental health, your sanity, your overall well being, DO it. How valuable we think our time is, is undeniably intertwined with how worthy we perceive ourselves. When your self-worth is set up high, then you make more conscious decisions regarding the time you actually have. When your values and priorities are clear, making decisions that have a positive and growing impact on your life becomes easier. It’s ok not to have the time to do ALL the things we want to do, but are you using ALL the time you have to make what really counts happen?
I believe that the less aware we are of the value of our time, the less worth we are assigning to ourselves. So make more thoughtful choices and always remember that time and self-worth go hand in hand.
