As we move into the second half of 2021, ask yourself this, “How well have I managed this year?”. Very often, the answer to this question is really about how well have we managed the passage of time.

You see, how we manage time plays a vital role in our success and effectiveness in self-leadership. How we use time, therefore, is of the essence. 

In fact, time is the only commodity given equally (in terms of its quantity) to each and every one of us. Every human is given the same amount of time every day. From the toddler to the elderly, from the healthy to the unwell, from the rich to the poor, all of us are given the same 24 hours. However, although we are all given the same amount of time, how we use our time varies from individual to individual. What we become in life is determined by how we use our 24 hours.  Our success is determined by how well we are able to use, invest and manage our time.

The passing of time is the passing of life.  After all, our time for existence stops when our life stops. In other words, time is a measure of life. Time wasted is life wasted; time saved is life saved. 

Here are three keys that we can use to make our time more meaningful and effective.

Take ownership over our Time

Time, like most commodities, need to be managed wisely. Dr. Mike Murdock, who is a televangelist, once said “Yesterday is in the tomb, tomorrow is in the womb, today is all you have got, so trade wisely with it.” If you have no value for time you will have no value in life. The hard work of today will create our success we see tomorrow. As long as we manage our time, our life will be successfully managed.

Use Time to fulfill our purpose

One of the best ways I have found that quickly sharpens and bring to focus how I am spending my time is to think about my life purpose. One of the most important thing we can do to develop our purpose to be self-aware of our talents, abilities, gifts and inclinations. Once we are aware of what we are meant to establish in our lives, it makes it easier for us to gravitate towards doing the right thing at the right time.

Learn from the past, live in the present & layout our future

The third key to make our time more meaningful and effective is to continually learn from our past as we layout our future while living in the present.

We need to be mindful in design our day and the best way to do that is to plan for it. This is important because based on this plan, we can then start to establish our priorities.