Time

---First published on stephen-blog.com when I used that site--- Time is one of the easiest things to waste.  It is also one of the worst things to waste. Its so easy to hop on the computer for a minute (which usually turns into much more than a minute), to be lazy and put off things that need to be done, and waste time in so many areas.  The list of things where time is wasted could go on for a long time. If you had a whole week where the world stopped for ten hours each day, what do you think you could accomplish?  Could you write a book?  Could you get ahead in school?  Could you make a dent in that huge to-do list? If you find only 15 minutes per day (excluding Sunday) that you are wasting and put them to good use, you have saved yourself 78.25 hours at the end of the year! That was figured out by taking 365 days minus 52 days times 15 (which gets us to 4695 minutes) divided by 60 equals 78.25 hours. If you get on your email three times per day for five minutes when you really don't need to, you are wasting a whole week per year! How much time do you think you could use better?  I think most of us waste much more time than we think we do. Start being honest with yourself!  One way to do this is to keep a record of your time.  Every time you do something, whether it be a 4 hour job or a 3 minute break, write it down.  At the end of the day review how you used your time. One day mom told us to get a sheet of paper.  Every half hour we were to write what we had done.  Doing this helped me use my time better.  When I felt like wasting time, I couldn't because I knew I did not want to have to write that I had wasted that much time. If you have something to do, do it!  Don't waste your time.  You can make other people (and even yourself) think you are much busier than you really are.  You can rattle off your to do list and all the other things you need to do and why you cannot give more time to other things.  But is the way you spend your time showing you to be busy? If you think you may be wasting your time, change some of your language.  Instead of saying you're not going to do something because you are busy, say you aren't going to do something because you are being lazy (if that is actually the case - in other words, don't make excuses). If you put off doing something today, you will have to do it and probably something else tomorrow. One way to save time is to write a list of things you need to do at the start of each day.  Also pray and ask God for wisdom. Another way to used your time the right way is to get your priorities right.  Is it more important that you are a great facebooker or that you have a good relationship with your family? A way to get your priorities right is to ask yourself if what you are doing will matter tomorrow, in a week, in a month, in a year, in ten years, or for eternity.  Later will you look at what you've done and be happy you did it? Use your time wisely. The rest of your life begins now - Use it!