Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.
What you do today will determine how your tomorrow will be. The time you spend today will purchase tomorrow’s productivity. The greater the price you pay today the greater the reward tomorrow! Over the years I have had the opportunity to speak and talk to people about their life I have found a common problem. This problem plagues many people including myself at times. It is the common denominator when it comes to living a fulfilled life. The problem: People don’t have enough time! It is the nagging feeling of never being able to do everything you want to do! Many people feel like an Octopus on roller skates, a lot of motion is going on, but you aren’t getting anywhere!
When you boil it down, living a fulfilled life is simply about time. Time is the currency of life. Benjamin Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” Life is about how we spend our TIME! Time is everything! British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said, “He who gains time gains everything.” How we spend our time determines how we spend our life. We will never reach our potential and live life to the fullest without being intentional TIME KEEPERS!
Ephesians 5:15-15 (ESV)
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
When we learn to make the best use of our time, we learn how to live life to the fullest. We must live carefully with the time we have been given or we will be in danger of missing incredible opportunities. When we are not making the best of our time we become foolish and ignorant of how important time really is.
I often get asked how I have time to write books, write blogs, write songs, paint artwork, teach art lessons, do leadership coaching, read, study, meet with people, pastor, teach, speak, enjoy family, have personal time, etc…. My response is, “I will sleep when I die.” The reality is, I am on a journey of learning how to make the most of my days. I decided years ago when I gave my life to Christ that I would live life to the fullest by making the most of it. I figured that if God gave me the gift of life, I should give Him the gift of making the best of it! I thrive off of doing everything God put in my heart to do, and yes I do sleep, I actually enjoy it at times! I do not have a secret formula that others don’t, I simply don’t sit around and DO NOTHING! Wait did you hear that? I don’t sit around and DO NOTHING!
Sure, there are times I rest like anyone else and take it easy, but I figure life is about living not sitting. When others are sitting around thinking about what they would love to do, I just do it! I don’t sit around thinking about writing a book one day, I start writing it. I don’t sit around thinking about teaching leadership to others, I pursue opportunities to speak. I don’t sit around wishing I wrote a song that could help people connect with God, I use the skills God has given me and write one. It doesn’t matter if it is good or not, I JUST DO IT! I don’t talk myself out of acting and I don’t make excuses to not start! Indecision is the murderer of productivity! And procrastination is its weapon of choice! Nothing will make you feel more unfulfilled than wasted time!
You will never finish something you never start! So while others are waiting to start, just START! I have never seen someone complete a project they have never started. I have never seen someone sit around thinking about doing something and it magically happen without any effort. I have found that procrastination and wishing never get anyone anywhere! So instead of wasting the precious days God has given us I say it is about making the best use of them. Look what God’s word says…
Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Wow, can you see how important it is that we keep track of our days? God is serious about this TIME stuff! We have to learn how to number our days, so that we can gain a heart of wisdom. We ALL have the same amount of time in one given day. No one gets more, no one gets less. Financial author Robert Kiwosaki said, “The difference between poor people and rich people is the use of their time.” It is not about how much time you have, it is about how you use it that makes the difference. When we learn to number our days we realize that life is a game of math, counting the cost of each day and every moment. Why do we have to wait for a funeral or a tragedy to shock us into the importance of each and every day we have on earth?
Too many people are barely surviving when it comes to their time. They do not have any to spare and the feeling of treading water to stay afloat consumes them. But life is about moving forward and becoming ALL that God has called us to be, that doesn’t sound like wasting time to me.
I am going to be working on a book soon about TIME! The subject is very close to my heart and I feel that if we can grasp how to spend our time we can grasp the secret to living a fulfilled life! When we come to the end of life we will not wish we sat around doing nothing (like watching more TV). We will have wished we stepped out and spent our lives doing the things that mattered the most! Author Francis Chan said, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
This week I would like to take some TIME and teach about how to make the most of our TIME. Stay tuned and spread the message so others can live their life to the FULLEST and together we can make the most of our days! I hope to share tips, secrets, and teach about how to live a more productive life this week! So let’s journey together!
I encourage you to start by asking God to give you wisdom about your time and to be mindful of this topic during the week! Let’s see what God will show us and teach us together! Let’s commit this week to learn about how to live life to the fullest! Are you with me? Let’s learn how to get more time, not by stretching the hours, but by being more intentional so that we have more time to do what really matters! I am convinced that you will find much wisdom about how you are using your time this week as you become more aware of your days! Time is the most valuable thing we have on this earth, we have to learn to use it wisely!
CHALLENGE #1
Track how you spend each hour today (or tomorrow if you are reading this at the end of the day). I want you to go hour by hour and write down what you do so that you can keep track of your day. Everything, from when you wake up to when you go to bed. I call it a time budget…track where your time is going.
LESSON #1
If you don’t know where your time is going you won’t be able to get ahold of it
I kept a diary of my daily activities for a few days, and was shocked at how much time I wasted on procrastination activities: checking Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, getting lost in blogs and forums, etc.
It was something of a wake-up call, and although I’m far from perfect, the awareness of what I was doing has helped me to catch myself when I spot it happening.
Has it made me more productive? Definitely. 🙂
That is great Brian…I think we always need to be reminded and aware of how we are using our time, otherwise it begins to slip away from us!