Does time have value? Well, it depends.

It has value as a resource. In fact, since you cannot retrieve lost time, this makes time as an extremely precious resource.

But time has no value if it is wasted. You use the time for whatever you deem profitable, productive, or positive. Put differently, you decide what value to give to your time.

This brings us to reflect on our use of time. There are three basic ways:

Time can be squandered. You use the next hour doing something that brings you no benefit at all. For example, if you are disorganized, chances are you are wasting time trying to retrieve some information that would otherwise be handy.

Time can be spent. You use the next hour doing something that brings you immediate benefit. It is not bad, per se, but it is very short-term. For example, you can spend your evenings watching Netflix. You would be entertained today but you can’t translate that experience into something useful tomorrow. Unless you are a professional media critic.

Time can be invested. You use the next hour doing something that will bring you strategic benefit later on. For example, you are pursuing advance studies. It’s no fun now, but you are sharpening certain skills that will increase your marketability tomorrow.

Which brings us to two sobering questions:

1. How do you think you have used your time in 2022? More of squandering, more of spending, or more of investing?

2. How do you want to use your time in 2023? I doubt you will say “more of squandering.” The reflection becomes: Do you agree that it is better to invest time than to spend it? If yes, what will you do differently to invest that time next year?

If you really want to be scientific (and obsessive-compulsive) about it, create a spreadsheet where the columns are days of the week and the rows are 15- or 30-minute increments of the 24 hours of each day. Then as the week goes by, write down what you did in each increment. You will see a tangible record of how you used your time.

There is a lovely line that says:

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Indeed, we live in an age where there is so much distraction and temptation. Thus, we have to be intentional of using time with a long-term horizon. I am not saying we squeeze every second to be “productive” to the point you can’t enjoy a sunset or take a vacation. But let us also be aware how we are flittering our moments.

As my mentor once told me:
If you are wasting your minutes, you are wasting your hours.
If you are wasting your hours, you are wasting your days.
If you are wasting your days, you are wasting your years.
If you are wasting your years, you are wasting your life!

Here’s to more wisdom on using time in 2023!

#careercoach #timemanagement #newyear #newyear2023