Time Will Continue To Tick By

There isn’t a day that goes by that we all suffer from the same loss. This is a loss common to everyone and everywhere. No amount of money, power or prestige makes one different from another in this very same loss. This same loss is known as the loss of time.

Some people expect that time will stand still or that they can make up for lost time. Others believe that time is a non-critical factor when it applies to the need to adapt to change that is happening all around them.

Time Waits For No One
Change, however, progresses with each passing minute. The same amount of time is available to each person and it is their responsibility to use it wisely or to waste it. It is always a choice whether one realizes it or not. The decision to use time consciously is the same as wasting time unconsciously because time is always used regardless of an active or passive role.

Many people think that they have plenty of time to alter their habits, change their behaviors, or learn new skills. But, if this is the predominant thought, what value is placed on time? Time, in this viewpoint, says that time is only relative to the person and not to the movement of time believing that time is a commodity that is under the control of an individual, and, therefore, has no relevance to its passing if so declared to be so.

Cannot Be Stopped
Time, however, keeps moving forward without any regard for the human element of desire; time always moves forward and never back. This means, then, that time applies to every decision or, in reverse, that every decision applies to time. Both are in fact the same application of time when it is applied to how much time is available to make a change in habit. If one believes that there is enough time to wait to do something, then they also believe that time will always be available to them. We all know this is a fallacy; a truth that cannot be denied.

Cannot Be Bought
Time is also one of the commodities that we cannot buy back; we cannot exchange anything we possess to trade for time that has been wasted or squandered.

For those who complain that they don’t have the time to pursue new training, develop new skills, take steps to put in play an action that can help them move forward to capture a lifelong dream have no realization of how much time they waste.

And, Yet For Others
For some, it is much easier to sit in front of the T.V. day in and day out rather than to put in the effort to use this time to create something that will pay off for them in the future. What is it about those people who seem to get more done, or participate in volunteer organizations, or contribute energy to helping others develop skills outside of their normal working hours? It is simply the ability to organize their available time in such a way that they can accomplish what they need to or want to.

It is also the desire, for these types of people, to set priorities. In this sense, there is a difference between being organized and setting priorities. At the same time, however, a desire to use time by prioritizing its use goes hand in hand with organizational skills. You can possess the desire to set a priority relative to the use of time but, in actuality, the wise use of time depends on one’s ability to organize an activity to take advantage of the available time.

You’ve probably heard the old adage that if you want to get something done ask a person who is busy. Why is this? It is because a busy person knows how to effectively set time priorities and to use their time in the most efficient manner.

Effective use of time, I should clarify, is different than the efficient use of time. How is that different? Here’s a simple answer to that question. The person who watches T.V. is effectively using up time to engage in leisure activity, but the person who uses the same amount of time tostudy to advance their knowledge is using time efficiently. Both these people use the same amount of time, but what is accomplished is much different.

However, we can make the reverse argument apply in that the person who is watching television may be both effectively and efficiently using time if that activity satisfies their need to relax and recoup from the strains of the day as long as that individual has found by experimentation that television produces the desired effect in the shortest amount of time.

This means that the person seeking to find relief from stress has investigated and found that an hour of watching television is more relaxing than an hour of going for a walk. You see, the point is this: the decision to do whatever it is comes from a conscious decision. To use time both efficiently and effectively as opposed to wasting time is a decision made being well aware that time is moving forward and that time used for whatever purpose is time that is forever gone.

Not Time, But YOU?
Time isn’t your enemy. Instead, you are if you continue to squander your available time when you have a desire to fulfill a dream. On the other hand, if you have no desire to accomplish a dream or, in fact, have no dream at all, than we are talking about two very different points of view.

For those types of people who have no dream to accomplish anything more than they currently have are usually those types of people who have no purpose in life. If that purpose, if we can take liberties with how these people think, is simply to exist until death, there are desires that have been left unstated. This means that if a person believes their purpose is to exist then they have an unstated will or purpose to survive. In order to survive, they must have a reason to survive or there is no purpose.

Desires Relative To Time
The difficulty with the kind of thinking that denies purpose is akin to the thinking that time is of little value in that time is only relative to the time one must spend on earth. This kind of feeling delves into all sorts of other subjects that need to be discussed. For example, issues relative to time include motivation to accomplish something that brings personal reward; the desire to be more or have more peace in one’s life; or, the desire to move forward in life but feelings of inadequacy or fear stops all forward movement.

Poem written by John McLeod
It that reminds us all that time is the one thing we can never get back.

Precious is time, fleeting, then gone,
‘Life’s Rhyme’ that greets each given dawn,
Presents the chance to progress make
Steps in the dance of give and take
In equal measure, Hell or Heaven. . .

Precious treasure freely given.

A moment found, one second’s sway
Can be a lifetime or a day,
Perception casts its misty net
Though nothing lasts one can’t forget
That ‘timeless reaching’ into space. . .

To touch that teaching, healing place.

What have you done, I heard God say,
So near and yet so far away,
The quiet, gentle inner voice,
That speaks of giving and of choice,
To listen and soft build upon. . .

Precious is Time. . .

Fleeting . . .then gone!

Inspirational Quotes for Reflection:
“Time management can be learned like any other skills and don’t forget that time well managed is a life well spent.” T. P. Stone

“Before anyone is at the office, before your kids and pets wake up and before the sun even thinks about showing up, there is an hour each morning which is yours and yours only. This hour of power is from 5AM to 6AM.” Michael Lombardi

“Every time you find yourself saying “later” you should ask yourself “Why not Now?”… if you can’t find a good reason why not now, then do it now.” Theo Gold