Principles For Success: Handle Your Most Valuable Asset With Care

Have you ever wondered what you’re supposed to do with time? I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard about time management, but what exactly does that mean? When I used to think about time management it almost felt like a jail sentence. I thought that if I wanted to be successful I had to abide by a strict schedule that guided me hour by hour and had a consistent weekly routine. Let me tell you, I could not keep up with the schedules I created for longer than a month! Lol, I began to think that I just needed to apply myself more, become more focused, and be more committed, but the truth was I didn’t understand the value of time.

Time is more valuable than money and gold. It’s the only invisible substance that life is made out of. With time you can become whoever you want to be, create your wildest dreams and live out your biggest goals. With time you can create a legacy of wealth that lasts for generations after you’re gone and build an empire that helps people improve their lives one person at a time. With time you have no limits. Time, my friend, is your greatest resource.

To tell you the truth, you can do whatever you want with time. You can waste it on social media, spend it with friends and family, or invest it in your goals. All of your activities fall into one of these 3 categories and you get to choose which one.

Have you ever spent your whole day running around, doing things that seem productive at the moment, but when you sit down and review your day you realize that nothing you did was actually aligned with your immediate goals or where you want to be in the next few years? Girl, me too! I used to allow others to determine my schedule by letting their “emergencies” become my priorities and placing their goals above mine. This was so subtle and below the radar that I wasn’t even aware of what was happening! I would give hours of my day to things that had nothing to do with my purpose, goals, or ultimate dreams. Then I would complain when another year went by and I was still stuck in the same position as the previous year not knowing how to achieve my goals.

The problem was that I didn’t understand time is an expensive resource, not a cheap commodity. I was wasting my time and giving it away for nothing in return. I didn’t use it to develop any skills, turn it into profit, or develop my character. I just let it walk out of the door without demanding anything from it. Are you with me?

Now, this is where a little bit of wisdom kicks in! Spending time is when you trade your time for something beneficial to you. It could be knowledge, experience, money, added value, and so on. This is better than wasting time because at least you’re getting something in return. When you waste time you end up with nothing to show for the time that has passed, but when you spend it at least you have a little bit of profit as evidence to reveal exactly what you did with your time.

Productive ways that we can spend our time include but are not limited to education, working, volunteering, training, and so on. Whether you end up with a physical product at the end of the day like money or something invisible like knowledge or understanding you are still benefiting from the time that you spent.

Here is the gold mine! I strive to structure my days with this goal in mind. Investing your time simply means using time to produce the exact results you want. The easiest way to do this is to have weekly and daily goals. For example, every Saturday my goal is to produce 2 blogs including the graphics, links, and quotes. The way that I measure how I spent my time is based on the end result at the end of the day. Did I produce my 2 blogs plus the necessary graphics? If the answer is yes then I am rewarded with a tangible product (my blogs).