When will people begin to value their time properly? Time is the most valuable resource of all. It’s the one unrenewable resource every single one of us has, and none of us can gain it back once it’s passed. On this earth, we each have twenty-four hours in a day, but how we choose to use that time varies greatly. We all have the same amount of time, but how we choose to spend it makes all the difference.

People constantly complain about not having enough time, all the while wasting so much of it on trivial or temporary things. For example, you can always make more money, but you can never make more time. Yet, people seem to place more value on money and things than they do on their time. So many of us work long hours, sacrificing our health and relationships, all in the pursuit of wealth. Most of us feel that to do otherwise would be seen as lazy and even unseemly.

When it comes to tangible stuff, no matter how intrinsically worthless it may be, someone somewhere values it by some absurd calculation that is tied to no rational economic data or reality. / Even as much as we say we value time, we foolish homo sapiens continue to polish our skills at the very wasting of it. We can publish price guides for anything you can think of, but no one seems to fully recognize the pricelessness of our limited number of spins on the wheel we call terra firma. Yes, those who say they value it properly still often assign a fiat amount of currency per hour to something so ridiculously undervalued and precious 

Even those that claim to have some magical time management process down pat, I simply don’t believe them. After all, what “experts” call time management has to do with maximizing every possible minute of productivity at all costs. But true productivity isn’t just about working hard or more often. Cramming as much as possible into your day isn’t a way that truly values your time. Instead, learn to work smart, efficiently, and effectively. You must work to maximize the time you have left over for recreation and self-discovery. The most difficult part is learning to say no to things that don’t matter, so that you can say yes to the things that do.

It’s a shame that it took me over three decades on this spinning rock to discover what a prolific time waster I’d been. I took so many opportunities that I’ve been given for granted. Fortunately, I eventually learned this lesson, but most people I went to school with never have and likely never will. That’s why once I recognized this, I dedicated myself to put my words to their best use. 

~ Amelia Desertsong