Three Minute Leadership: The Value of Time
To: The Great Leaders Who Have a Passion for Continuous Learning
Charles Darwin wrote: “The man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” In his book, Go for the Gold, John Maxwell discusses the value of time as he brings a hard reality to it in sharing Charles Spezzano’s thoughts in his book, What to Do Between Birth and Death about how people give value to their time.
Maxwell writes: “Spezzano says that people don’t pay for things with money; they pay for them with time. If you say to yourself, In five years, I’ll have put enough away to buy that vacation house, then what you are really saying is that the house will cost you five years – one-twelfth of your adult life.” Spezzano writes: “Spending your time is not a metaphor. It’s how life works.” Maxwell suggests to great leaders that instead of thinking of getting, doing or achieving things in terms of money, they think of the time that they are investing in acquiring them.
This simple change brings emphasis and focus to the value of time. We open our eyes to new ways of seeing and valuing things. A simple example, do we choose to invest in our time as a measure of things (e.g. how many breaths we have in a minute) or, rather, something more beautiful as how many breathtaking moments we have chosen to make in that brief moment.
Maxwell asks: “What is worth spending your life on?” This is the question to be asked for every moment of the great leaders’ lives. What are their most important priorities, and how will they invest this precious time they are given. May great leaders remember always the words of an unknown author: “The greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Because when you give your time, you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.”
May you always make good use of time. In doing so, time will give you one of its greatest gifts… it will teach you the value of life… a gift of a lifetime.
Have a beautiful day and a magnificent week!!!
Mike
