Monday, November 17, 2008

It's About Time

At one time or another, we've all wished for a 25th hour or a 8th day of the week. So many things to do, but too little time, right? Well, time is the great equalizer; every person has 24 hours in a day. No one has more and no one has less. We are all given the same amount of hours in a day. But how do we most effectively use that time? It is a finite resource. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. So, here are some interesting thoughts on TIME.

"The bad news is, time flies. The good news is, you're the pilot." - Michael Althsuler


"Time is what we want the most, but what we use the worst." - William Penn

"While we are postponing, life speeds by." - Seneca

"Until we can manage TIME, we can manage nothing else." - Peter F. Drucker

And one of my personal favorites:

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."

And as Jim Croce put it "If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do, is to save every day 'til eternity passes away, just to spend them with you. If I could make days last forever, if words could make wishes come true, 'Id save every day like a treasure and then, again, I would spend them with you."

And as one of my favorite singers of all time, Eva Cassidy, so eloquently sang, "(if) Time is a healer, then all hearts that break, are put back together again, 'cause love heals the wound it makes."

And as far as managing our time and avoid the procrastination trap? Well, the great folks over at Thought for Today, said it best:

"Complete everything. A task left undone remains undone in TWO places; at the actual location of the task and inside your head. Incomplete tasks in your head consume the energy of your attention as they gnaw at your conscience. They siphon off a little more of your personal power every time you delay. No need to be a perfectionist, that's debilitating in an imperfect world, but it's good to be a 'completionist'. If you start it, finish it... or forget it. Do it .... or dump it!"

To read my earlier posts regarding procrastination, click HERE and HERE.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, Kathleen. When I was reading through your post, enjoying all of the quotes about time, I got chills when I started on the Jim Croce quote. I blogged about the same song with regard to time in my March 3 blog post! Wacky, huh? I think I'm loving the 'do it or dump it' addage too.

Also, I wanted to let you know I chose you for the "tagging" ritual. If you would please check out my blog for info, I would love to read about you!

Anonymous said...

Using my time productively seems to get harder with each passing day! Too much information? Possibly. Maybe this multi-tasking life is actually less efficient than it seems.

I tried writing down everything I did all day. It only lasted 2 days, but looking back at the list I thought: "Really? That's all?".

Thanks for the comment Kathleen. Keep up the good work!

fatfighter said...

Thanks for all the great quotes. My personal favorite has always been, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift. That's why it's called the present." The book, "The Precious Present" is one of my favorites.

And the quote from "Thought for the Day" is so right on! Got to be more of a "completionist!"

Kathleen said...

Caroline: Do it or dump it is a good one. And thanks for "tagging" me. I promise I will comply soon!

Ryan: You hit the nail on the head - TMI. Too much information! And you're right about multitasking; not necessarily more efficient because we're interrupted and can't give one thing our full attention! DailyOM had a great article about "Too much information" this past week. It encouraged readers to find filters.

Sahar/FatFighter: I too like the "completionist". Makes it sound more manageable, yes?