How do you value the one thing you can’t trade?

Time. Defined beautifully as the ‘indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.’

I have been thinking about time a lot recently. It could be the time of year and leading up to the new year that makes me reflect on how much has happened this year. In my last post I wrote about embarking on a new university course and one of the challenges I had to overcome was, where to find the time? Now, time is not something we can buy or borrow and we are given the same amount of time as everyone else. Aside from learning new subject content about a topic that interests me, I also found over the past 3 months that time took on a whole new meaning to me and I wanted to share with you what I have learned.

N.E.T. aka No Extra Time

The No Extra Time principle is all about finding ways to be productive using the short amounts of time you would otherwise waste. To learn about my new subject matter, I was playing podcasts when I was cleaning the house or driving, as opposed to my standard music of Disturbed or Blink 182 playlists. Some would call it multi-tasking but I think it’s about catching yourself when you are doing something that isn’t aligned to your goals or what you want to achieve (i.e. scrolling the gram, Netflix binges) and then swapping that out with something that does. Don’t get me wrong - watching B grade Christmas movies is my guilty pleasure in December but only as a reward, not to expend precious time that could be made more valuable by reading that academic paper, writing this post or connecting with friends.

Schedule important relationships

It sounds so corporate - why schedule relationships, you ask? In Nir Eyal’s book Indistractable he makes a strong statement of truth ‘Family and friends help us live our values of connection, loyalty and responsibility. They need you and you need them’. The lesson being that by nurturing those relationships, it feeds our mind and soul.

I’ve experienced firsthand how important it is to prioritise time for close relationships, no matter how busy life is. Special people in my life, who have busy lives themselves, have still made the time for me to drop by to give me a study break or found the time to make a phone call to check in on the current events of the week. It showed me that no matter how full life can be, with a bit of good planning and communication, those relationships will not starve. This first university subject had me throw everything I could into the assignments, and whilst it took time to find my rhythm and balance, knowing I had commitments with those important relationships made me work harder to meet my work and study deadlines earlier.

This moment in time is all that really matters

Eckert Tolle, the guru of the power of now, encourages us to focus on the present moment. One of my favourite Eckert quotes is ‘Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.’ I admit this will likely be a lifelong work in progress for me but it does bring a great sense of calm to only focus on the one thing in the present, not analysing the past or dreaming of/dreading the future (depending on which version of the glass fullness you see in your life). It leads to letting go of what may or may not happen in the future, which brings uncertainty but also a sense of freedom of what could be possible.

Whenever I focus myself acutely on the present moment and be still it awakens a new energy and I notice so much more around me. It may sound kooky but try it and see if you can feel the fullness of life that surrounds you. The sunshine is just a bit brighter for that moment and time might just feel like it has stopped.

This post is dedicated to anyone that feels that ‘if only I had more time’. You aren't alone as time is the most valuable commodity we have and yet can’t be traded - use it wisely to do what matters most to you.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free reach out to share your own experiences about making the most of your present time.