The Value of Time
“Time: it should be on your list of that which you value most – it should be invested with more preparation and intensity than money…” — Rick Cox
It was Brian Tracy that said, “You cannot increase the quality or quantity of your achievement or performance except to the degree with which you increase your ability to use your time.” This is a profound statement for indeed, TIME is one’s most important asset. Time is what everyone shares equally, but invests differently. Some spend their time while others invest their time. We are all equal in that we all have twenty four hours in a day. What we don’t know is how many years we may have or how long we might live, but we do have the same amount of seconds in a minute, the same minutes in an hour and the same amount of hours in a day. It is how we invest these precious seconds, minutes and hours that makes the difference in what we will have at the end of the hour, week, and year, or more importantly, at the end of a life time.
Unfortunately, most people are not cognizant of the fact that time can either be spent, (used up with little or no result), or invested (with considerable gain in all of our tomorrows). Many are not aware that time can be used to purchase in the same manner that money is used to purchase. As a matter of fact, time is in fact better and more valuable. You can either spend time watching TV; playing mindless games of all sorts; sleeping too much; reading uninspiring and unchallenging books; playing too much; being pessimistic; being hateful, angry or bitter or, you can invest your time by reading the next helpful and inspiring book; studying to become better at your profession; learning to play a musical instrument; volunteering to help the less fortunate; having a heart full of love and forgiveness or being optimistic. The list is endless.
For example, watching too much TV will leave you broke and alone. Playing mindless games might fill your time, but will not fill your mouth, stomach, or desires for a better life. Sleeping too much will buy you depression and bankruptcy. If you spend too much time playing and not enough working then you will wind up without a job and broke. If you waste time rather than studying to become better at your profession, someone else will either get your job or get the promotion.
Conversely, having a heart full of hate and bitterness will only buy you a life full of loneliness and despair. It all depends on what it is YOU want to do with your life. It isn’t someone else’s fault if things are not working out the way you think they should. A quick review of what you are doing with your time will be the revealing factor. It is your time to do with as you wish, not someone else’s, but you are required to make the best of the time you have been given. Unfortunately, most do not realize how valuable time is until they have none left or are given a set time to live.
TIME: When YOU finally come to realize it can be used to purchase what you want; that it can be used to reach your goals; that it can be used to make your dreams come true then you will no longer allow those precious seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years to be wasted away doing nothing. You will use your time wisely to help you grow into all you have the possibility of becoming.
Proverbs 23:23 speaks of buying the truth. It says, “Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” In Proverbs 4:5 & 7 it says, “Get wisdom and with all your getting get understanding.” So, how is it that you buy truth, wisdom, and understanding? You buy them with the only thing we all have in common, TIME. Give your time to buying wisdom and understanding for time is spendable and investible in the same manner as money.
Time however, has much more value than money. Using it wisely will put you ahead of your colleagues and piers. It will put you ahead of the curve in that you will be using time instead of having it used against you. It is also important not to spend your time doing mindless activities for these are neither profitable nor beneficial in helping you attain your goals. To become what you were meant to be and do all you were meant to do you must fully understand the value of time for this will help you make the right choice at the right time. It will help you stay committed to your goals and keep you pressing forward toward the prize.
As a final thought, the Bible speaks of other gods, telling us not to follow them. When I think of other gods, I think of things that have me wasting my time. As a time-waster you are a life-waster for you will wind up at the end of your life having nothing to show for the time being given you while here on earth.
So, with that thought in mind there are a minimum of eight choices in a day:
1. What time do you get up? (Remember, the early bird gets the worm)
2. How do you spend your time when you are getting ready to go to work? (Are you listening to something negative or positive; something discouraging or encouraging; something mindless or educational; something depressing or motivational)
3. What do you do when you drive to work? (Do you listen to music or talk that agitates and causes depression or music that is uplifting and calms the spirit and soul or CD’s that will educate and motivate)
4. What do you do during lunch time or breaks? (Do you sit around and gossip or spend time learning to be better at your job)
5. How do you spend your drive time home from work? (Do you listen to a talk show person bashing everything and everyone while filling your heart and mind with anger or listening to a CD that will help you grow and motivate you to overcome the issues and obstacles placed before you)
6. How do you spend your time once you are at home? (Watching TV listening to all of the bad news or spending time working on yourself, your relationships and your home)
7. How do you spend time once the children are asleep? (Are you wrapped up in night time soap operas; video games or getting to know your spouse by taking walks or simply talking)
8. What time do you choose to go to bed? (Your choice makes a difference on how much time you can invest in self improvement/ development – too little sleep is not good and too much is not good either)
There are eight minimum choices in a day; fifty six in a week; two thousand nine hundred twenty in a year and one hundred sixteen thousand eight hundred minimum choices in forty years. Each and every one of them are choices that will affect the outcome of your life; what you will have, where you will be and to what level you will be able to enjoy it. It is how you spend or invest your time that will make the difference in your tomorrows!
Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…
Respectfully,
Rick Cox