Following a meeting yesterday with a potential coachee, I began to think about the gift we call time.
In a nutshell our discussion was around how when you get to the end of your life, no matter how much money you have in your bank account you cannot buy back time. Now this particular discussion resonated with me, not because I don't believe in striving or working hard to be successful (or in fact if you desire to be wealthy) but it resonated because I believe the greatest gift you can give yourself and others is time.
'We think much more about the use of money, which is renewable, than we do about the use of our time, which is irreplaceable.' - Jean-Louis Servan Schreiber
You see we are all born with our own personal bank accounts - time. Each day it credits us with 86,400 seconds, each day it writes off what we have lost or whatever we have failed to invest in. This bank account has no overdraft, nor can we carry over any unused deposits. There is no going back, if you fail to use your day's deposits - then the loss is yours. Therefore, we must live in the present and focus on today. If we invest our time wisely we will therefore experience good health, happiness and success.
So, this clock is ticking and my advice is to not waste even a second. And if for one second you think you have time to waste, then you are lying to yourself or you have not begun to realise the true value of life. Now I'm not saying that you have to spend every waking moment of your life running around frantically doing activity - in fact dreaming, relaxing and sleeping can be more valuable than most other daily tasks. What I am saying however, is live life....
Dream... Do..... LIVE!
Let us think some more about the value of time....
- to know the true value of one year, ask a student who has to repeat a year after failing.
- to know the true value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
- to know the true value of a week, ask the editor of a weekly magazine.
- to know the true value of a hour, ask the lovers who cant wait to see one another.
- to know the true value of one minute, ask the person who just missed the bus or the train.
- to know the true value of one second, ask the person who narrowly avoided an accident.
- to know the value of one millisecond, ask the person who came 2nd at the Olympics.
If you love life, do not squander time. That the stuff life is made of! - Ben Franklin
To conclude, I want to share with you the following, written by Nancye V. Sims:
A Creed to Live By
Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.
Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would life, for without them life is meaningless.
Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is the fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don't shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give love. The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; And the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don't dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope; To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Don't run through life so fast that you forget. Not only where you've been, but also where you're going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way.
Every moment in your life, including this one, is a fresh start. - BJ Marshall