Time is like a goldmine within us: we mine at it every day, to trade what we earned for food on the table. Or experiences.
Even if this mine is a part of us, we give away part of ourselves for only one reason: to live.
Don’t trade it away so easily. Here is a way for you to track your time.
Seconds: Our measurement of ‘now’.
Seconds are precious in their value. Like dimes, they are easily lost for both good and bad reasons.
We spend them on many things: eating food, laughing over a good joke. But, we only have so many in a day, and quite a number of people spend theirs with regret at times.
Your seconds are traded for a moment of euphoria when you’ve finished a satisfying task. The golden moment where you are proud of what you have created.
Your seconds are traded for a kiss with your partner. Those kisses are limitless in value. They last for a while, but the memory stays.
Your seconds are spent hugging your mother and father, telling them the words “I love you both, Mom and Dad”.
Even if your words last a few seconds, those words stay with them forever. Every second counts.
Minutes: Our time in focus.
You spend your minutes in concentration.
We spend a few minutes getting the job done. Effective use of each and every minute is what adds value to any task that you do.
This job could be anything: washing dishes, doing some work, playing with the dogs.
Minutes are the best currency for self-reflection: what you have regretted doing, and what you will do to overcome them. Going through the lessons we have learned makes every minute worth it.
We also spend our minutes going through the memories we made: joy, loss, laughter, and sorrow. Life is about traversing the seas after all: going through the worse times to enjoy the best.
Hours: Our time to learn.
Hours are moments of dedication. You use this to pay for experiences: learning, trying out something new, feeling adventurous.
When you start having high-value experiences, you can record them by the hour and reflect whenever you want to. All experiences are continuous after all; if they build up, we will become greater.
The hours were worth it then.
Days: Our time to develop & celebrate.
Our days are how we measure progress: Developing ourselves, investing, the depth of our friendships.
You use this to pay for your routines, the ones where you are most efficient. Part of this is meeting new people, and to build upon baby steps for each project you have.
Our days also call for celebration: birthdays, weddings, holidays.
You have the whole day to feel grateful for everything that you have.
Weeks: Our time to act.
You use this for your action plan, breaking up every currency for automation.
You use this to order your money around, you use this to review the last few days.
Your weeks are planned ahead, for you to spend time with your loved ones. If you get things over and done with for the week, you’ll know how much time can be spent with them. Not everyone has great time management skills. If you knew how much time is allocated to build yourself, you can then share the rest with your friends and family.
They will love it, I’m sure.
Months: Our time to commit.
4 weeks, 30 days, whichever you want to measure it in: this is where progress can be tracked. You use this for your projects: when are they being released? What will you tackle, how will you improve yourself? Where is your next travel destination?
Your months are how you schedule your commitments: Busy living life.
Draw a roadmap or a calendar. 30 square boxes for 30 days. What will you achieve each and every day?
By the end of the 30 days, once you’ve ticked all 30 of them, you will see just how far you’ve improved. It’s an amazing experience, to have a paper visualizing your progress. You’d feel like a brand new human being.
Now do this 12 times, and you’ve got a year of progress.
Years: Where we start.
New year, new me right? Your years are where you plan your long-term goals.
A year is a long time passed by shortly.
How many will it take to achieve what you want? What are your resolutions? What were your memories? What were the lessons you learned?
They will come by quickly, and if you want to reach for your successes, you need to plan accordingly. It’s also hard to remember a year’s worth of memories, so make sure you have fun and record everything too. Your future self will thank you for it.
Decades: Where we repeat our success.
Your decades are your chapters in life – your childhood, your studies, your career. How much color that you have in them reflects your personality, your willingness and your determination to make the most out of each chapter.
It does not matter the ugliness of your current chapter, you can still paint it with the next one.
It’s your canvas to work with.
Lifetime: It’s all we have.
This is the slow race: How many steps can you take to achieve satisfaction. Your lifetime is your legacy, and how will people remember you. How much do you care about people’s opinions, how much do these lessons that you have learned carry throughout your lifetime.
Your lifetime is your single most expensive currency. Why?
Because you only have one.
Don’t waste it. Don’t waste your life.
This is what happens:
Use your years to plan for your goals: what you want to be, where you want to be, who do you want to be.
Use the months to commit, set deadlines.
Use the weeks to set tasks. Proceed with good work.
Use the days to build and work on your routine.
Use the hours to learn what is necessary, to talk to the right people, to learn when to rest and to be sure of what to do next regardless of whether or not you’re lost.
Use your minutes to reflect on yourself, spiritually.
Use your seconds to live in the moment. Every second should be given 100%.
Your decades are where you rinse and repeat.
Once all of these are in place:
You will last a lifetime.
Walk with me. I will help you last a lifetime.
The lifetime you want, and the lifetime you need.
N.T.C.