What's in Your 24?

 What’s in Your 24?

Of all resources at our disposal, time is the most equitably distributed but also the most finite. I say this because it is evident that we all get dealt a stack of 24 hours every single day. The rich, the poor and everyone in between is given the same amount of time daily. Our utilization of the same, has a great impact on the overall quality of our lives. Whenever you waste your time, you waste your life. Plain and simple. Benjamin Franklyn says “lost time is never recovered.’ While Theophrastus adds that ‘Time is the most valuable thing you can spend.’

So what’s in your 24 hours? While we have learnt to track our expenditure of money (though we still have a long way to go) we are doing relatively poorly in tracking time. There’s a sense in which we don’t pay as much attention to our time as we do our money. The irony is that by using our time better we can generate more money.

Time is so significant that the ultra-wealthy buy other people’s time to generate massive value for their ventures. Some of you reading this are employed. You are basically exchanging time for money. Your employer has bought your time and skills and they are using it to generate value. I can guarantee you that you generate more value for them than what they pay you otherwise they would have gotten rid of you a long time ago. Those with harder to grasp, high value skills are paid significantly more than those who do what every Tom, Dick and Harry can do.

Whatever you choose to fill your time with determines how much you are able to generate. Benjamin Franklyn who has a lot to say on time says that time is money. Let me continue on the line of an employee. What do you fill your time with as an employee? Are you doing a lot of low value work that can be replicated by almost anyone? If so, you are likely to wait for a raise for a long time to come. Why? Because no one is going to pay you more if they can hire almost anyone out there to do what you do. If your job can be done by anyone out there or automated, then realize that as at now, you are still doing low value work. The bad news is that our machines are getting smarter and even those who think they are safe now are all set for a rude awakening. If you are doing what is considered high value work that machines cannot replicate easily and there are very few other people who can do it at your level, then chances are that you are highly remunerated, have the flexibility and leverage to ask for more and are secure in terms of having something to do in the long run. A very good question for you as an employee is what am I filling my 24 hours with? Am I focusing on high value tasks? Not all tasks on your to do list carry equal weight. Some mean more than others. Looking at your key performance indicators, what are the most significant outcomes you are supposed to pursue at your current job? What activities in your daily routine contribute the most to those outcomes? Your answer to these questions gives you an idea of what you need to focus on. The same applies to the self-employed, the entrepreneur, student or any other person.

Whatever dominates your 24 reflects your values and priorities. Many times what we think are our priorities and the reality are far removed from each other. On paper our priorities are grand and noble. In reality, you would be surprised. In this era of constant connectivity, we have a lot of threats to our time. It is possible to get caught up in endless browsing, Eric Edmeades calls it trying to reach the bottom of your Facebook Feed.  You can talk about what is important to you all you want but the question remains when you take a critical look at your expenditure of time, what do you see?

This lack of awareness can only hurt you as a person. Instead of adopting a don’t-care attitude when it comes to your time, purpose to be mindful about how you spend your time to have a better quality of life. The only way to start making better use of your time is by tracking your current usage of the same. Whatever you don’t measure you won’t manage effectively. Until you become clear about where you are losing your time, you will not be able to get a handle on it. The only way to answer what’s in your 24 is to track it. While planning how to use your time is critical, an evaluation of this usage will help you plan far much better as you go along.

If you have never clearly answered what is in your 24, I recommend journaling for you. A journal will go a long way in helping you track your time and how you are using it in a systematic manner. Before the journal however, it is important that you as a person are invested in the whole idea of tracking your time. Tools do not mean much when you are not ready to put in the work as a person.

If you are serious about managing your time better, then you have no option but to tell yourself the truth about how you are spending your time currently. This will get you on the path to optimizing your time which is a resource you cannot afford to waste.

At Optimize Institute we have a course tailored with you in mind that will help you get the most out of your time every single day for the rest of your life. Because you want to do this as a matter of urgency, type in the comments ‘Interested’ and we will get in touch with you. Alternatively you can write to me on asenasam@gmail.com or WhatsApp +254725832477.

I will end with a quote from Stephen R Covey-The key is in not in

 spending time, but in investing it.