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Let Time Bear Dividends for You

Written by: Jing Jin

Article Overview: I have heard so often from people that “I don’t have time” or “There is so much to do, I just can’t catch up.” The truth is that we all have the same amount of time: 24 hours x 7 days. This is the only resource that we are given equally. The only difference is where and how we spend it. In my opinion, where and how we spend our time has the greatest effect on the results in our life.

Let Time Bear Dividends for You

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

-- Steve Jobs

In my last workshop on September 13, 2009, I shared with the audience the importance of finding our passion, and the key steps to turning our passion into profit. One of the elements I spoke about was the need to manage our resources efficiently and effectively, especially our time. This point seemed to resonate with many of the workshop participants. Many came up to me and told me that one of the decisions they made as a result of the workshop was to change how they currently spend their time.

I have heard so often from people that “I don’t have time” or “There is so much to do, I just can’t catch up.” The truth is that we all have the same amount of time: 24 hours x 7 days. This is the only resource that we are given equally. The only difference is where and how we spend it. In my opinion, where and how we spend our time has the greatest effect on the results in our life.

Just look around you and pick an individual. Can you tell where and how they spend their time? Often it can be quite obvious. The question is why we spend our time the way we do? How can we become the master of our own time? I think several distinctions will make a big difference.

Time is value: How we “see” time has a lot to do with how we “use” it. If we see time is something to be killed, then we will kill time. We will find things to do to fill up the space so that we don’t have to face this empty feeling inside. If we feel time is not in our control, but dictated by people or events outside of us, then we will let others determine how we spend our time. We’ll always be in a reactive mode. However, if we see that time is the most valuable resource we have, as precious as gold, we will spend our time wisely. In fact, we’ll invest our time wisely because just like other valuable assets, it will bear dividends over time.

Time is a measurement of energy: Where we spend our time reflects where we put our energy. Like water, when properly channeled, it can generate electricity that lights up a city; when not constructively channeled, it can flood millions; when not channeled at all, it may just go wasted, leaving no trace. When we channel our energy and focus on something worthwhile, it can create great things for us, and because of us. This presupposes that we know what to focus our time on, which leads to the next point.

Know thyself: I believe there are three fundamental building blocks that when properly understood and applied, will lead to our greatest potential and fulfillment in life: They are our passion, gifts and values. When we have a compelling passion, we direct our energy to express, develop and master our unique gifts. When we know what are the most important values for us in life, especially in the long run, we can make a conscious decision to choose high value activities and relationships and reduce or eliminate activities and relationships of lower value.

Schedule it: Sometimes there are multiple things we value. For example, we value both business success and quality time with our family. At times there may seem an apparent conflict between the two, given the limited time we have in any given day. If both are important values to us, we need to schedule time for both. It takes judgment, balance and efforts.

Invest your time wisely and let it bear greatest dividends for you. Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.

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Article Tags: amount of time, audience, courage, decisions, dogma, elements, heart, inner voice, intuition, life span, passion, rsquo, september 13, span style, steve jobs, style font, style text, time span, truth, workshop participants



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