This week, I’ve been reminded (yet again) that there’s no time like the present – time flies and life is indeed a present, a precious gift, if you choose to savour every minute of the time you have, as this beautiful story at the end of today’s blog confirms.
We know that time waits for no-one – it cannot be banked or carried over, for those 86,400 seconds it presents you with each day are gone, finished, dead in the water just as soon as a new day dawns.
You may recall that brilliant Bank of Time piece that’s always included in those Time Management courses, where the trainer waxes lyrical about the importance of managing this finite resource and I thought you might like a little reminder of it again today…
The Bank of Time
If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with £86,400, that carried over no balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do?
You’d draw out every penny of it of course!
Well, you do have such a bank – and its name is TIME.
Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it rules off, as lost, whatever you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balance.
It allows no overdraft.
Each day, it opens a new account with you.
Each night it burns the records of the day.
If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.
There is no going back, there is no drawing against tomorrow.
You must live in the present on today’s deposit.
So spend time wisely – it’s expensive to waste it!
Makes you look at time with a slightly different perspective, doesn’t it? And talking of perspectives, I read a story (for the 3rd time) recently about a father & son who clearly saw time from totally different viewpoints, until one day, their opposing perspectives collided with such emotional force that the boy’s father begged his son for forgiveness – and we might well find ourselves doing the same, if not to our children, then perhaps to our staff!
I first saw the story on the internet when googling for visuals of time to include in one of my training modules, then I was starkly reminded of the story when my business coach, Martin Norbury, wrote about the importance of valuing time in one of his weekly blogs and I felt compelled to repeat it here:
A father & son story…
A busy Entrepreneur dad arrives home from work late (again) and is greeted by his young son…
Son: “Dad, may I ask you a question?”
Dad: “Yeah sure, what is it son?”
Son: “How much do you make in an hour?”
Dad: “That’s none of your business. Why do you ask?”
Son: “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”
Dad: “If you must know, I make (thinks for a while) about £100 an hour.”
Son: “Oh!” (bowing his head down).
Son: “Daddy, may I please borrow £50?”
The father was absolutely furious.
Dad: “If the only reason you asked me that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy, then take yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish, I work extremely hard every day.”
The little boy quietly retreats to his bedroom and shuts the door.
The dad sits down and starts to get even angrier about his son’s questions.
After an hour, the dad calms down and starts to think. Perhaps there is something his son needs to buy as he doesn’t ask for money often. So he goes upstairs to the boy’s bedroom door:
Dad: “Are you asleep?”
Son: “No, I’m awake”.
Dad: “Maybe I was too hard on you earlier son. It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the £50 you asked for.”
The little boy sits straight up, smiling.
Son: “Oh, thank you dad!”
Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulls out his piggy bank and starts to count the coins and notes. The man sees that the boy already has money and starts to get angry again. The little boy slowly counts out his money, and then looks up at his father.
Dad: “Why do you want more money if you already have some?”
Son: “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do, I have £100! Please can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow dad, because I would like to have dinner with you.”
The father was crushed.
He put his arms around his little son and begged for his forgiveness.
WOW! This sure is a stark reminder that time flies and is indeed a finite resource – it waits for no one and it can never be reclaimed or carried forward. So, think about those 86,400 seconds you are afforded each day, to do with as you please, and maybe spend a little more time focusing on what really matters, because when the day is over and the time has elapsed, it can never be experienced again!
There’s no better time than the present to show those you care about – loved ones, family, friends or colleagues that they matter and that you value them ALL OF THE TIME ⏲
So do it NOW – afford your time to those you value 💜
Until next time – take care and keep FIT!
Best regs
Marie X
