Time. When you really think about it, time is such a strange phenomenon. My favorite sci-fi flicks deal with time travel. From the number of movies on the subject, it doesn’t look like I’m the only one fascinated with what it would be like to travel in both directions of time.
The closest I ever came to time travel was a number of years ago when I was on a concert tour in New Zealand. This beautiful country is on the other side of the International Date Line, the other side of the Equator and separated from our base in California by 19 time zones. It was our Fall, their Spring and during the tour they went onto Daylight Savings Time while we went off of it back in the states. That put us 21 hours apart in time. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around how it is possible that I could call our office in L.A. at 2 PM their time on Monday and where I was standing it was 5 PM on Tuesday!
Nevertheless, time is not really something you can change or tinker with, but it can be measured, sensed, used, abused, wasted, monopolized, divided, shared, lavished, missed, longed for, treasured, despised, used both as a reward and punishment, may seem to pass very fast or dreadfully slow, it fills up, runs out and one day will be no more. Many people believe that time even heals the pain of loss. I beg to differ, but I’ll get to that later.
Rev. Emory Wallace, a much loved and respected pastor I served under, always said about time that each decade passes faster than the previous one. I guess one reason for this is for a child a year represents a very large percentage of their life. As we collect years, we find that they pass us by in rapid fire and our memories have the ability to jump from one decade to another in a flash.
Not having enough time is the most common excuse given to avoid a myriad of challenges or to pass on unappreciated opportunities. In reality, we all have the same amount of time. Everybody has 24 hours in a day. The other thing we have in common is how good we are at viewing our own situation as unique and unmanageable.
Time management is a multi-million dollar business these days. On this subject there are countless books, apps, seminars, webinars, web sites, blogs, online communities, systems, publications, workbooks, calendars, experts, gurus and the list goes on and on. Just think how much time we spend trying to save time!
So what do we do with this limited commodity? If we do nothing, it will slip through our fingers like sand. If we try to hoard it, it will sour and so will the things or people we attempt to ensnare in its boundaries.
You see, just like the belief that “time heals” doesn’t hold water with me, neither does “time management” in and of itself. I believe that it’s not the time, but what we do or learn during that time that does the healing. It’s not merely the blocking off of time into neatly defined segments, but rather the activities that we engage in or the little changes we make on a consistent basis that improve our productivity.
What changes are you wanting to see happen in your life? In all likelihood, for them to become reality, it will take time. Not just the passing of time, but engaging in activities that take time.
Are you wanting to…
- increase your income
- get out of debt
- learn a new skill
- find new friends
- lose weight
- get in shape
…whatever
It’s going to take time and you have to be the one to determine if it’s worth it or not. We have to ask ourselves the tough questions. How important is that desire or goal to me? Am I willing to invest the time and effort to bring it into personal reality?
Some of our deepest desires have been put off for a long time. Somehow, we have convinced ourselves that we just don’t have the time, money or ability to make it happen. Don’t you think it’s about time?
Here are three things you can do TODAY that can help set the stage for your success:
- Write it down – make it real and attainable
- Schedule it – determine your steps of action
- Tell someone about it – find an accountability partner or group
As Earl Nightingale has said, “Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”