Nairalogue with Ifeoma Adeoye: 6 Truths About Time

The older I get, the more precious my time is to me. Now I calculate the opportunity cost of my time before I indulge in seemingly non-value adding endeavours. This is because 24 hours and 365 days just does not seem like enough time for me to achieve all the things I would like to achieve. This got me thinking and I reached the following conclusions about TIME.

It won’t find you, you have to find it
Time is an interesting concept. It has no mind of its own and it only goes where you tell it to go. It won’t naturally gravitate to things that matter or are value adding to you. It always looks for the easy way out. You literally have to take it and channel it into what you want it to show up as. You have to create the time to do the things that will move you closer to your goals. If you set a goal to be on the Forbes list of the top African Billionaires in 10 years (“10 years” being a measure of time), then you would have to spend every waking moment from now until that target date (“now” being another measure of time), doing things that will enable you achieve this goal.

It is priceless
Do not price it cheaply by staying in sub-optimal situations (because time has gone by) or staying in a job that you absolutely hate or by under negotiating at a job interview or under-pricing your products and services. Aim to extract the most value, whether financial or otherwise, from the utilisation of your time because when the time passes you cannot get it back.

It is fast
I remember the hysteria that followed the ushering in of the new millennium. There were all kinds of theories that the world would end, etc. Then I closed my eyes and opened them and we are in 2016! Where did all that time go? When I was younger, a “one year” period (the countdown to my birthday) felt like forever. Now it is like the day cannot come fast enough, as if quickly ushering me away to something else.

It cannot be bought
If we could buy time, billionaires would have a monopoly of it. There are 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year and no matter what you do or how rich you are, you cannot change this fact. Dawn must come and so must dusk. 24 hours do not seem like enough time for busy executives and since more time cannot be bought, they find ways to optimise their time by delegating the things they do not want to spend their time on. They delegate to people for a price (salary), thereby freeing up some of their time, to do more strategic things or just generally enjoy life with their family.

Time is money
Literally! And just like money, you must spend it wisely. The more time you spend doing anything, the better and more specialised you get at it – the higher the price you can command for it too.

It will not wait
Time will not say “Bisi is not ready to act yet. I will just pause until she is ready then resume ticking again”. No! It ticks on, fast, continuously, forever! It does not wait for “the perfect time”, or “the right time”, or for when you are ready. That is why the present time is always the best time to do anything

If you have a dream, pursue it NOW. If you have goals, work towards them NOW. If you have an idea, start turning it into a reality NOW. The truth is, someone else is already doing it or might start doing it while you wait. There is no better time to do anything than NOW!

Remember, start now, start small – just do it!

Photo Credit: Carlosphotos | Dreamstime.com