Success Advice

What Is Your Time Worth? Are You Investing Your Time or Wasting It?

Published

7 years ago

Jun 3, 2017

Everyone has valuable time on their hands, but sometimes people assume that their time is just valuable and fail to remember that the value of time is measured by how successful you are at living life.

In reality, the value of your life is estimated by how much gets done and how you choose to do so. The value estimate of your time is up to you, and what you choose to do with the 24 hours that we all have every day.

Now, we all have different goals and aspirations, so the value of each one of our times is different, but that doesn’t make your life any less valuable than another’s. All that means is each of us has to choose a personal road that will take us to those goals and aspirations, and how we invest or waste our time getting there is what will determine the value of those goals.

The value of the goal will be obvious by what you are willing to do and how much time you are willing to invest to achieve it. How we invest our time is what will dictate that value, but how do we decide what activities are worth more or worthless?

In the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey makes an analogy about time management comparing it to sand, pebbles, stones and a bucket. He assimilates the first three to actions, and the bucket to a day. How you fit those rocks, pebbles and sand in the bucket is how you will ultimately fit all of your daily activities in one day.

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra

If one does not pay attention to detail, or is unorganized with the order in which these go in the bucket, all three will not fit. There has to be a thought process in which you analyze which of these three goes first, second and then third, so that ultimately you can fit all materials in the bucket.

This can be applied to the day-to-day activities we all carry out, and how we prioritize them to obtain the most value out of our day. See, all of the activities you need to accomplish today are of value, but not all of them are of the same value. It is up to you to figure out which ones add more value to your day, and in the long run to your whole life.

When you assign value to the things you do during your day, you really see what activities are productive, and which ones are a waste of time. So let’s analyze the things you do during a busy day and categorize them amongst Stephen Covey’s sand, pebbles and stones.

SAND: This is pretty much the details of life. The small things that most people have to do, like dishes, laundry, walking the dog, etc. All of these things are a part of life but they will have the least, if any, return in energy or investment.

PEBBLES: These are the activities with the most ROE (Return On Energy), what that means is they take up the most energy, and the Return Of Energy should be the same as what you put in. These activities can vary from exercising, reading, cooking, and so on.

STONES: Now these tasks are the most valuable of the day. These are the things you NEED to invest in: work, family, spirituality, health; Make sure these actions have the highest ROI (Return On Investment) which means whatever you’ve invested in this (time or money) is returned in the same amount if not more.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

Once you have categorized your daily activities you can really see what you do during a normal day. The time wasting ones will pop up once they’re written on paper because you will visually become aware of the fact that there really are activities that can take up our time but really have no return in energy or investment.

These activities are of little or no value to you. Don’t think that you cannot have any leisure time or time to relax, but there has to be a balance. Give yourself a limit of time which can be spent doing the minimal things, give yourself a schedule, and stick to it.

At this point, one important thing to do is to cut out the time wasting activities that will not give you anything in return for your time. Now take a look at your new list, do you now have more time to invest in activities that will bring more ROE or ROI? If you don’t, then it might be time to reevaluate your priorities and see if you are spending your valuable time working towards your goals or wasting it.

If you have successfully found space in your bucket for all three: your sand, your pebbles and your rocks, then you are one step closer to achieving your goals and knowing the value of your time.

Are you investing your time or wasting it? Leave your thoughts below!

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com

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Stephen Dela Cruz

Stephen Dela Cruz is a best selling author, speaker and serial entrepreneur who specializes in helping budding entrepreneurs double their income in their first year. He’s built several 7 figure businesses and in his online school, The Mastermind Experience, he shares strategies around time and money management to help beginning entrepreneurs soar. You can see more about Stephen on his website and follow him on his Facebook page.

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.