I was annoyed the other day by someone who texted me wanting to make an appointment with me to talk about something over the phone. My first thought was, “This is a waste of my time.” I even tried to persuade them to send an e-mail, nope, they had to talk to me.
After the brief conversation, I evaluated, “Was this a waste of my time?” Yes and no.
Could this phone call been an e-mail or text? Yes.
I appreciated the reason for the call, but it still could have been a text or e-mail.
If you are young, you have all the time in the world, or least you think so.
If you are turning 57, time has a different value, it’s something you are running out of.
Time is about perspective. Abundance, scarcity and waste.
I don’t like waste. Never have. Even when I was young I didn’t like to waste food. I didn’t like throwing something away if I could re-purpose it. Time is more precious than food. You can make more food, you cannot make more time.
So, with my time now in shorter supply, allow me to offer some new guard rails I’ve installed so I do not waste the time I have on things that, I think, do not matter.
- If I can talk you out of a meeting I will.
- I do not go out shopping if I do not have to. Most of the time I buy nothing.
- I do not reward myself for sloth.
- I do not argue with anyone, especially with fools, especially online, this has cleared up much of my schedule.
- If something unnecessarily drains me, I stay away from it.
- I’m trying to say what I want to say in fewer words
Like this post. That’s it. No need to be wordy.
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.” – Carl Sandburg
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.