It’s not that we are short on time, but that we waste much of it. It doesn’t have to be that way…

“Man, the time just seems to fly by!” We’ve all heard this many times before. And it seems that as I get older,  I hear it more and more from my friends and family.

Is time really accelerating, or is it our perception of time that changes as we get older?

You have to wonder how much a person’s perception of the passing of time is influenced by how well they have used their time during their life?

Perhaps those of us that have used our time wisely have a different paradigm of the passing of time than those who have wasted away their time and opportunities?

The Greek stoic Seneca wrote,

“It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested. But when it is squandered in luxury and carelessness, when it is devoted to no good end, forced at last by the ultimate necessity we perceive that it has passed away before we were aware that it was passing. So it is…the life we receive is not short, but we make it so, nor do we have any lack of it, but are wasteful of it.”

Wow. That’s profound.

Our time is a nonrenewable resource, and it is finite. The clock is ticking in the game of life, and there are no timeouts. I think we would all make better use of our time if we were to take an inventory of how we invest (or spend) our time on a daily basis.

Ask yourself these questions…

Do I invest my time in activities that will give me positive benefits, for example activities such as working out and eating right? Or do I waste my time in activities that don’t produce results, like watching TV, surfing the net, or playing video games?

It’s food for thought. There are some of us that think that we don’t have enough time to work out and eat right, when we really do. It’s just that we’re not using our time wisely.

This week I want you to challenge yourself to do a personal inventory of where your time goes. Write it down.  Make a list of all of your activities over a couple of days. Then sit down and ask yourself where you can cut out time from wasteful, non-productive activities that you can then use to put into working out, eating right, and reading positively motivating material that will help you to grow as a person.

If you’re like me, you’re going to find that you can trim minutes here and there. These minutes may add up to hours every week and every month.

These are valuable hours that can be invested in taking better care of yourself, planning for your future, and creating a better life for yourself and those you love.

Have a great and healthy week,