The beauty of time

Time is a beautiful commodity. It is part of the hardware of life. What you do with it shapes, in so many ways, what your life looks like. And yet, while almost every one of us wishes for more time, we misuse the time we have on hand.

I am no guru, you know that. But I have become pretty good at using my time well. Time wasted is time lost and the big idea on time is that once it is lost, it can never be regained.

I recently read that John Templeton, the celebrated financier, never went anywhere without a book in his briefcase. This way, if he found himself in a long line, he could use the downtime to read, learn and grow. I also read in the Rolling Stone magazine that Madonna hates wasting time. She used to bring a book with her when she would go out to a nightclub to use the time when she wasn’t dancing, efficiently.

My coaching clients are like that. And they lead big lives as a result of that giant devotion to time management. I want to be clear: I am in no way suggesting that every minute of your days, weeks, months need to be scheduled. Be spontaneous. Be playful. Be free. I am a free spirit at heart. I just find that the people who have the most time for fun are those who know how to plan and use their time well.

In my experience, the people who feel stress the most and lead their lives like a five-alarm fire are those who leave life to chance and make no time to set schedules, articulate goals and follow well-thought-out plans.

“Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organisation, preparation and action,” observed thinker David Kekich. That’s a powerful thought, isn’t it? 
 
—Robin Sharma is the author of The Greatness Guide (Jaico)