Time Is Not On Your Side

The other day, someone said, “I wish I had more than 24 hours in the day.”

Been there, felt that.

Then someone jokingly said, “Well, you can do that; get up an hour earlier.”

Funny, but also not true. We have only 24 hours a day to use as we decide best. Work, sleep, learn, exercise or simply chill.

Getting up an hour earlier won’t change the amount of sand in the hourglass.

But what can is how we choose to use our time. Do we use our time intentionally or passively, allowing it to drift past like leaves floating by in a stream?

The best I can figure is 24 hours breaks down into three slots of eight hours. And how we use those is already pretty much spoken for. One slot is for a healthy amount of sleep, and the other is considered a standard work day (note I said standard, not normal). So that leaves us an eight-hour spot to use for everything else.

Forget gold bars or Bitcoins — time is our most valuable resource. And if you want to get all economic-like, it is a non-renewable resource. Once passed, the time evaporates into the sky like snowflakes on a hot Texas parking lot, never to be seen again.

So this brings me to how we spend our time. The eight hours a day we get is often already highly spoken for.

Maybe your commute is the better part of an hour? Now you’re down to six hours or so.

Then imagine you will sit down with the family for dinner. Take away another hour or so — meal prep included.

Now down to, say, five hours.

Need to hit the gym? Another hour gone — taking you to four hours.

Imagine you want to stream a show or read a book, unwinding from the day. Now, you’re lucky to have an hour or so to do as you wish — or need to squeeze in.

No wonder so many feel life is out of control — because without careful and intentional management — it is. The tail, your day, is wagging you — the dog.

I’ve never seen a dog who enjoys someone grabbing his tail and making him do something.

Childhood summers went on forever — as did a school day in the fall. But now, in my sixth decade, time seems to speed by ferociously.

I read that the solution is to remain organized, keep a journal or calendar, and learn to say no.

The latter is a real weakness of mine — as my wife repeatedly tells me so.

She even puts her hands on my cheeks, squeezing them, and saying, “Say no.”

I muffle out a few words, but I tend to fall off the wagon the next day.

I don’t know about getting up an hour earlier to get an hour's jump on the 24-hour day, but I do know that my relief is rooted in my decisions.

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