subject: Are You Making the Most of Your Time? by:Kim Rix [print this page] Time is our most precious resource, it's a finite substance that's constantly dwindling and can never be replenished. Yet we're hardly aware of it slipping quietly away with the minutes of every hour. Where does it all go? This is a question we ask ourselves as time passes by. Where does it all go and have we made the most of it?
Research indicates that much of our time is taken up with the basic necessities of life. Sleeping for instance will see you snooze through up to 27 years of your life, whereas work will occupy us for as much as 12 years. The time we actually have for ourselves is in short supply indeed.
How do we fill our spare time? Whilst at work, we often dream we're at home, relaxing and enjoying ourselves with our friends and family. But once we're at home, we're only actually content when we're actively engaged by a worthy task that occupies our time. If we simply go home and passively flop in front of the television, we feel that we're missing out, not making the most of our time.
But filling that free time with meaningful and engaging activities uses up even more of our time and it's not always clear how we should spend that time. As John Lennon famously said 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans'. It's not a matter of time management or the science of personal organisation, it's a desire to 'fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run' as Rudyard Kipling said in his inspirational poem 'If'.
The key to making the most of your time is to consider time in the same manner as money. We have an account with an unknown total balance, a figure that will not grow; it will simply diminish with every passing second, until we have nothing left. We know how much our daily, monthly and annual balance should be, but we do not know when our total balance will reach zero.
To avoid wasting this ever-decreasing sum, you must make decisions about how are you going to 'spend your time'?
If you discover that too much of your time is spent at work, you must redress the balance. We cannot replace the time we missed with our children, friends and family. We must also consider how we spend the time that is for ourselves; how we use this most finite of natural resources is what really counts. What will you do for yourself?
Do not waste your time on marketing surveys, reality television, and mindlessly surfing the Internet. You do not get that time back! Spend it wisely. Meet new people, explore new places, take part in social events and activities that take you beyond your narrow passage from home and work, that take you beyond your established social circle and make you feel that you are spending your precious time in the best way that you can. So that at the end of days, before your account is closed, you can say 'I made the most of my time'.
About the author
Kim Rix is Founder of The SaVVy Club - London's premier social event club for professionals.
