Are You Protecting Your Time?
The most valuable asset in life is time.
It cannot be purchased, which places its premium above that of money. It can, however, be saved, conserved, and protected.
We don’t often think about the real cost of things in life; we mostly think in terms of financial cost, but the real, “hidden” cost of life is how we use our time. The cost of making money is spending your time, which you cannot repurchase. Long nights at the office come at the sacrifice of time with family and friends and pursuing our passions and hobbies.
It’s not that we all need to be entrepreneurs or working (in normal circumstances) remotely when and where we want to “live life on our own terms”; everyone, regardless of what kind of job you work exchanges their time for something.
The question you should be asking yourself is, “Am I protecting my time?”
This is the real conversation we should be having instead of one centered around the obsolete concept of work-life balance. It’s not a contrast of work and life, but rather a division of time between ALL aspects of the things you need and want (those are different) to accomplish.
Sometimes, the “needs” outweigh the “wants,” which will require short term sacrifices of how you want to spend your time to get the things done that are required to live the life (in the future) you want to live. What we require is better planning, which allows us to dictate how we spend our own time, especially if all we have is a small amount of precious free time. Do not squander it mindlessly staring at screens, complaining or gossiping, or lying idle when motion is needed.
If you do not protect your time, someone else will dictate what your schedule looks like. If you allow this to happen for long enough, you’ll soon forget what it was you even wanted to accomplish in the first place.
And finally, if you’re thinking, “Well, I feel like it’s too late to start,” rethink it. You’re not too old. You’re not in too deep to start over. You’re not incapable of learning, changing your state, or changing your mindset. It’s never too late to get started on your dreams, and that starts with protecting the time necessary to do so.
Today is the best day ever because we used our time to make it that way.
