Most often when
we talk about budgeting we are referring to our money. That is important and I will get to that later
this week. But, right now I want to
focus on budgeting our time. This will
help us with our money and everything else. Time is the thing we lose more than
anything. It keeps moving no matter what’s going on in our lives. It never
stops. Most of all, it never gives us
back what time we’ve lost. As the song
states, “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future.”
Time is also
something we are only given a certain amount.
Some of us are given a little more than others, but essentially we all
are given less than 100 years, or 1200 months, or 36,500 days, or 876,000
hours, or 52,560,000 minutes. Regardless of the overall amount we each have, we
all have the same 24 hours in a day.
None of us get more or less than anyone else. Our choices are what differ. 24 hours a day, every day. That’s it, folks. There are no do-overs, there are no second
chances, and there is no re-start button – at least not with THIS life. Time is also not guaranteed. Our time could be up today, tomorrow, or at
any moment. I have suddenly lost people
in my life, and their absence leaves a deep hole inside my soul. I one day will
be absent and leave this world. BUT,
while I’m here, I want to make the most of the time I have, and in order to
make the most of it, I have to budget and protect my time, just like I do my
money.
Not knowing
exactly how much time we have makes budgeting complicated. However, that
shouldn’t stop us from planning, using estimated and approximated time in order
to utilize it the best we can. Time is a
thief, it steals moments and opportunities when we allow it control of our
decisions. When we just ‘wing it’, we
miss a lot of opportunity. Though it’s
been said opportunity falls into our laps, that’s not been the experience I’ve
known. While opportunities present
themselves throughout our lives, we have to choose to seize them or lose them,
and our lives will become a string of regret.
This is very
important. We have to protect our time.
We have to be picky about who and what we allow into our lives. There
are people and substances (substance abuse, addictions and distractions (yes,
this also includes video games) that will steal our attention, distract our
focus, waste our time, and destroy our opportunities. Misery loves company. Laziness loves excuses. Train wrecks love to
cause other train wrecks. Users seek to use up our opportunities and resources,
and then move onto their next victim, leaving us empty. Addicts need other
addicts. Losers make other losers. You are as successful as the company you
keep. You are who you hang with. If you’re
surrounded by a bunch of losers, addicts, lazy-ass mother fuckers, cheaters,
liars, thieves, thugs, selfish, self-centered narcissists … get the
picture? Surround yourself with people
who are successful, driven, focused, giving, optimistic, wise, intelligent, and
kind. Make a plan for YOURSELF, and then
stand back and watch to see who or what comes in to derail or support those
plans. While we would love to blame THEM
or THAT, they’re not the ones responsible for stealing our time or destroying
the budget or plans we’ve made with that time. WE ARE. We are the guardians and
managers of ourselves, our time, our budget, our resources, our company, our
friends, our drive and determination, and everything else we have and want.
If we want to
get ahead, enjoy success, fulfill our dreams, reach our goals, and live a life full
of experience and adventures, then we must take a realistic look at how we
spend our time, make the necessary and honest (often hard) adjustments, and
then budget our time to meet those goals and dreams. It can be done. I’ve done it several times now
and I’m doing it again. I hope you come along with me. If not, then good luck
to you, because I’m not going to stick around and allow you steal my time or
derail my dreams. I love myself enough to cut you out of my time budget.
Till next time,
~T.L. Gray
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