The way I see it there are only two ways of looking at time: either working with it, or against it – as a friend, or foe. This relationship can ebb and flow, but I find that it’s usually either one or the other at any one moment. The trick is keeping time working with me. It’s an unbeatable force and if I try to fight it and contain it, I only end up frustrated. So, our only hope is to befriend time, treat it with the respect it deserves, and have it work with us.

Some of the ways to have time work with you:

• Investing Money
• Planting (food, house plants, landscaping, etc.)
• Reading
• Education
• Engaged with people
• Exercise
• Using sun screen
• Creating a book/blog/movie/art/song/software that will live on after you have finished it
• Basically anything that can grow positively with the passing of time.

Trying to fight against time:

• Doing too much in a day
• Rushing through conversations with people
• Buying stuff that won’t last or appreciate.
• Buying and selling stocks/investments quickly without the proper research and education.
• Driving fast
• Sitting and waiting for something to happen

For better or for worse, that’s how time is. Either you’re working with it, understanding it, using it, considering it, utilizing it – or you’re frustrated.

“We must have a right view of eternity to know the real value of time.” – Our Daily Bread

I read 2 interesting articles today…

The first: Our Daily Bread

This article points out that the word “time” was the most-often used word in the english language during 2006. And goes on to point out our obsession with time, how to save minutes, how to be more productive and finding more hours in a day. This is something I’m very guilty of – “How can I invest the next x minutes to maximize the value of the time, and return on the investment?” is a question I often ask myself.

However, the point of the article is that time itself is a creation of God, and that our attempt to control it and manipulate it is futile. When we feel pressure from the clock (which I feel all the time) we are free to let go of that pressure and frustration, and realize that time itself is out of our control. “As we humbly bow before Him, we see time from a new perspective. — David C. McCasland”

The second: an article on zenhabits.net about using twitter for improved productivity and personal development.

“Personal development has become a highly popular blog topic for bloggers and destination for readers.”

Although this is a great article, and a great blog by Leo Babauta over at zenhabits.net, I found it very interesting that in one morning I could read an article about our obsession with productivity and time management, and another on how to maximize the use of twitter to be..well…more productive.

We all need to walk a fine line between time management, and letting go. Too much letting-go, and we become lazy – bad investors of the time we’ve been given. Too much time scrutinization and we become robots, focused on the maximum value of each second, without stopping long enough to smell the roses. I think the key is to constantly remind ourselves that time itself is a gift, something to use but not abuse.

Take Action:

• Use a small portion of each day (15 minutes to an hour), and purposefully don’t watch the clock. Try not to think about what time it is, or what you should be doing at that time. Use a timer, or alarm to get you back into action, and use the time in between to let go of it all.
• Plan out each day. Be productive, and use time as a gift. Each second you have is a gift, use it wisely – once it’s gone, it’s gone.
• Use your planned time to let go. Feel free to manipulate your schedule easily. When something interesting comes up, go for it. Something that sparks your delight? take it. Use the plan you made for each day to your advantage by easily swapping things around, exchanging interesting things, for even more interesting things.

“The Future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” ~C.S. Lewis

What will you do with the next one?

So Silvia and I went to Ikea over the weekend to get a dresser for the baby’s room. We wanted one that would function as a dresser, and also as a changing table. We found a nice model called a ‘Malm’ and decided to pull the trigger and buy it. In typical Ikea fashion, the 4′x2′x5′ large dresser came in a small, very heavy box – 5’x2’x7”. As anyone who has shopped at Ikea before already knows, the items there are pretty affordable, yet they come unassembled. You take them home in very heavy boxes, and the so-called ‘savings’ are passed on to you the consumer, by way of assembling the item yourself.

Silvia and I actually enjoyed the time putting the piece together. It was a nice time of bonding, spending time together, doing something for the baby. And in fact, something I will probably remember for a long time. We took pictures, talked, watched the Oscars, and generally enjoyed the time together.

The next day I started to wonder – how many hours did I actually spend assembling the dresser? Then I thought, was it really worth it? Did I actually save any money? If the dresser costs $99, but takes 3.5 hours to put together (3.5 hours that I could be working at $35/hr) then the actual cost of the dresser becomes $221.5. If I could have found and bought a pre-assembled dresser for say $179, I could have netted $42.50. Did I lose out? Did I make a bad decision? I don’t think so.

The question is hourly wage versus hourly value. What was the hourly value of the dresser? Well, that’s hard to put a number on, but I can tell you, it was much more valuable than $221.00. The time I invest with my family, and spending time with Silvia is never something I regret – although I have often regretted working too much. I think observing the value of something over the actual cost of something, is a valuable lesson. When I question how I should spend my time, I need to always remember to asses the value of that time, and not necessarily the cost.