“Time is opportunity flying by,” wrote eighth grader April, and she got it so right. Time does, indeed, fly, as we continually hear ourselves saying that we’ve run out of it or never had enough of it in the first place. And yet so much of it is wasted.
In fact, says Lifehack, here’s where too many of our hours are going:
1. Facebook
2. Photo-taking, organizing, uploading, and posting
3. Computer game playing
4. TV and watching movies on TV
5. YouTube
6. Reading mindless books
7. Commuting
8. On-line shopping
Do you agree? One item that also made the Lifehack list of time wasters was exercise, but that one makes no sense to me. I mean, get on a treadmill and start moving, so you’ll live longer and have more time to spend, right?
Meanwhile, If you had some extra, unscheduled time on your hands, how would you fill it? I asked that of a bunch of folks at a recent get-together. Here’s what they said:
“Catch up on emails.”
“Read a good book.”
“Watch TV.”
“Use Rosetta Stone to learn a new language.”
“Listen to music.”
“Meditate.”
“Exercise.”
“Take a vacation.”
“Nap.”
“Take selfies to post just about everywhere online.”
“Get more into Facebook and Instagram.”
“Start my novel.”
“Learn to play an instrument.”
“Make healthier meals.”
“Stress less.”
“Romp around more with the kids.”
Want to add anything? Note that some are time wasters, while others are, indeed, quite noble. The bottom line, though, is that most of us have enough time to accomplish some of these want-to-dos, if only we’d get started. I mean, imagine if we simply turned off the TV and unplugged from Facebook, video games, and YouTube more often …
As this anonymously written quote reminds us, “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Michelangelo, Mark Twain, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”
Then there’s this from Successories: “This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use if for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you’ve left behind … Let it be something good.”
In other words, no regrets by making more of our minutes count. In fact, since it’s still early in 2015, make that your number one new year’s resolution rather than following the crowd, which, according to LabDoor, in 2015 has vowed to:
1Lose weight
2Get organized
3Spend less; save more.
Interestingly, “Enjoy life to the fullest,” came in at #4, but to do that, well, we’ve got to make good use of our time, right? That takes prioritizing, to-do lists, and saying “no” once in a while …
Cheers to that and happy new year!