I used to be afraid of dying. But
I know it’s going to happen one day and understanding that death is a part of
life, makes me less afraid of it. Plus, I know God’s not done with me yet. I
still have a lot of living to do (so I don’t plan on checking out anytime soon)
however, death also makes me think about life and the significance of how I
spend my time. I recently read a book by Kevin Kruse titled 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time
Management, and something he wrote really clicked for me. He wrote…
We must be vigilant with our time.
There’s only 1,440 minutes in a day.
1440. That’s it. As much as I try
to be flawlessly diligent with my time, I’ve wasted plenty of time I’ll never
get back. Once I started saying things like, I feel like there’s not enough hours in the day, I knew I wasn’t
managing my time properly. I was pissing it away. I’d hate to get to the end of
my life and feel like I wasted it away doing things I didn’t enjoy, being
around people I didn’t like much, or doing things that weren’t productive. I’ve
collectively wasted 1,440 minutes (perhaps even more than this amount of time)
on the following:
Waiting
on people before I decided to experience different things I wanted to do. Never
considering I could just do things on my own.
Waiting
on friends who were always running late and never speaking up about being
irritated about their lack of respect for my time. Seriously, wasting someone
else’s time is offensive.
Allowing
people to put their neediness, problems, and demands on me, literally putting a
drain on my time and emotions, and never speaking up about things until I was
overwhelmed, angry, or grew resentful of having my time taken up. I learned to
set boundaries.
On
multiple occasions I’ve wasted time waiting on any guy I’ve been interested in
to figure out how he felt about me, when I could've been out enjoying myself
or dating other guys, instead of being strung along. Until official titles have
been established, I’m free to date anyone I want. Sorry but not sorry, just
being in the talking stage makes me
no one’s girlfriend. And I’m on standby for no one, either.
Spending
time scrolling through social media. I’ve pulled back more and I’m actually
happier and have more free time to be focused on more important things that are
priorities. Go figure.
Falling
into patterns of anxiety, living in fear, worrying about what other people
think, worrying about things beyond my control, and crying over stupid stuff. All
that precious time, gone.
I desire to be more
intentional with my time and way before I read Kevin Kruse’s book, I was heading
in that direction, anyway. I have a tight morning routine, I meditate, exercise,
journal, and put away all my electronics, cell phone included, by 9pm (except
on Fridays and Saturdays) so I can unwind and decompress for the day. None of
this happened overnight. Some days, it’s tough but having balance and
discipline with what I’m spending my time on, who I’m spending it with, and
what I’m spending it on, is important to me. Especially with the number 1440
forever embedded in my mind. I’m going to be more intentional than ever. My
time is valuable and so is yours. How you spend it is up to you.
What will you do with the time
you have left?