Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Time As An Indicator of Value

Time and tide wait for no man. He who hesitates is late.

Time is money. Time flies. Therefore, by logic money flies! Okay – maybe the theory is sound, but the logic is flawed.

Time is finite. Once the time is past, you cannot recapture it, just as we cannot recapture our youth. We can only sustain our youthfulness for as long as Mother Nature allows us (unless you disrupt it with cosmetic science). There are exactly 24 hours in a day. What you do with it is how you spend and value your time. Other than sleep and work that occupy most of our time, we still have enough left to pursue our pastimes, develop meaningful relationships, exercising, travelling, and to experience life. Our quality of life is how we choose to value our time.

Can you save time? Can you hoard time? Buy time? Apparently not! Time is not tangible and it keeps moving forward. Yet, people can afford to waste time. They while it away with idle pursuits, incessant chatter, or with mundane or mindless activities. A terminally ill patient may choose to compress their limited time with doing as much as they can; they value every moment, and every minute.

Time is a measure of duration, frequency and intensity. Remember Einstein’s Theory of Relativity? He explained it, simply, as spending time with a beautiful woman, or sitting on a hot plate. Which would you choose?

There is much we can do in a day. You can stay in touch with friends through social media tools. Write a blog. Submit an article to an online magazine. Study something new on Wikipedia. Meet a group of friends for dinner and good conversation. Volunteer at a family centre. Attend night-class. Join a hobby club. Exercise outdoors. Read a book (biography or bestseller). Cook a meal. The list of possibilities is endless.

How do you value your time? How will you invest your time today?

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