time is under our control

time

noun

o the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another.

o duration regarded as belonging to the present life as distinct from the life to come or from eternity; finite duration.

Very few things are under our control, but time is one of them. Don't waste it.

There’s a young man I manage who is moving on with his career, and I shared with him that time is one of the few things under our control. I’ve been managing him over two years and have observed his struggles with time. We’ve had blunt talks about how he manages his personal time. And that’s the challenge I have with him…his personal time. His incessant late arrivals—traffic this, alarm that, pulling into garage, blah, blah, blah. When it comes to work he’s not so bad. It’s the getting to work late and leaving early at a moment’s notice that is bothersome. And I’ve told him as much.

When I state that time is under our control, I mean it in the sense that we get to decide what we do with it. Of course, we can’t stop the flow of time any more than we can return to the past and make different choices. But we get to choose what we do with our time. For example, the young man can choose to leave earlier, he can choose to plan better, he can choose to get to sleep earlier, be more conscious about his habits with time.

You see reader, I’m not knocking this young man by any means. I’m trying to help him manage his time better. I’ve been him. I was him. I used to call in sick twice a month during my first 9 years of State service. I’d make excuses about arriving late and needing to leave early.

It’s when I observed three guys I managed use their time wisely. They hardly called in sick, when they went on vacation, they discussed their plans amongst each other so there was always the proper coverage. One guy called in sick only twice in the 5 years I managed him. I changed my habits with time because of those three guys. They showed me it wasn’t position that made you a good time manager, it was personal choice. I had to choose a different way of relating to time before I could change my habits.

I asked myself the following questions: Was I really sick twice a month or just lazy? How could I manage my energy better so I didn’t call in sick? What routine did I need in order to manage my time better?

Slowly but surely, I stopped wasting my time—both my earned time balances, and my manager’s time. I made time on the weekends to rest so I didn’t feel exhausted on Monday’s. I made a daily effort to quiet my mind to sustain my energy throughout the week. And I chose to come into work even when I felt lazy. Eventually, I was able to increase my time balances and calling in sick became a rare occurrence.

Remember, time ticks away the same for all of us. It’s what we choose to do with it that differentiates the results we each get from life.

#timeiswhatyoumakeofit #timeisoftheessece