Time Is Your Only Enemy
Jan 27, 2011
People come up with a lot of reasons NOT to do something, or to put off doing something they know they SHOULD do. It’s called procrastination:
• You just found out about an opportunity for a big promotion at work. You decide not to go for it because you think you probably wouldn’t get it anyway.
• Your New Year’s resolution was to get back in shape. You skip the gym because you can’t find time to squeeze it into your schedule.
• Your professor just assigned a major term paper. You decide not to go to the library because you have no idea how to get started.
• You have a great idea for a new business venture. You don’t pursue it because you don’t know where to get funding.
What do all these situations have in common? They’re all excuses. An excuse is nothing more than a flimsy justification for your failure, or potential failure. I can’t stand excuses. It’s taking the easy way out. Sure, there are going to be times when you go for something and fail. But at least you tried. And it’s important that when you do fail, you learn to never, ever repeat that same mistake. Failure should serve as motivation for future success.
Jordanism: The only enemy we have in life is time.
There’s only one legitimate excuse for procrastination: TIME. It’s the only thing we can’t create more of. Time is an investment. What we do with it today affects our future. Time is our only true enemy. According to businessman and columnist Harvey MacKay: “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”
It all comes down to your goals and priorities in life. How are you going to choose to use your time? How are you going to spend it? The next time you find yourself coming up with another empty excuse, just remember: time is your only enemy.
I totally agree with everything in this article. Great reminder!
True.
There is a great book on the subject called: 168 hours (the number of hours in a week) It focuses on how you can be most effective with your time.
Spot on advise.
Rather than focusing on what you should do, perhaps spend some time doing what you WANT to do. “WANTS” are better than “SHOULDS” because they come from who you are VS what others think is important for you.
If you review last week and what may have absorbed YOU time, I bet you can find some time you could have spent on YOU. Someone asked me a great question recently ,
“How much of you are you giving away?” If you think about it and answer honestly I bet you can find plenty of time to make your dreams come true instead of spending your life making everyone else’s come true for them.
Great thoughts JZ. It reminds me of this quote:
I never lost a game. I just ran out of time.
- Bobby Layne
Wonderful!