You and Warren Buffett have something in common.

It may not be the size of your bank account. It may not be your age.  It may not be your beliefs on politics or investments.

The thing you have in common is this- you get the same number of minutes in an hour.  The same number of hours in a day.  And days in a year.

And neither of you can buy one more second.  His money can’t buy it. Your money can’t buy it.

Whether it is you, Warren, Jeff Bezos, or anyone else who has ever lived, the non-negotiable is that we are all held captive by time.

And I would argue that time is our most precious resource.

So what are we doing with our time?  Are we scrolling?  Are we binge-watching?  Are we wearing the status of busyness as we bounce frantically from one thing to the next?  Are we simply observing time slipping through our fingertips and feeling powerless to stop it?

Time is moving forward.  At the exact same speed for all of us.  The big difference is that we don’t know our end date.  Our expiration date.  The date that our earthly journey comes to completion.

That is not meant to be a morbid thought, but rather a call to action.  And let me ask this question…

What will we have to show for our time?

I firmly believe that at the end of our lives, we will not wish that we had been more busy.  We will not wish that we had saved more money.  We will not wish that we had worked harder.  The regrets at life’s end will be much more about the things we didn’t do.  The opportunities that we passed up.  The chances we didn’t take.  The potential we maybe didn’t reach.

The stars that stayed safely out of reach because we didn’t try.

So what are you willing to trade your time for?

If time is our most precious commodity, what are we trading it for?  Endless hours of toil so we can cross the finish line of retirement and face the question of then what?

Endless scrolling of social media, videos, shows, and news that leaves our mind spinning and disrupts our brain’s ability to experience pleasure?

Being over-committed to a handful of things that leave no time for margin and keep you away from your family and friends and leave zero downtime?

Many of those may sound familiar…

They do to me!  I have traded my time for toil at the expense of rest, recharging, spending time with my family, spending time with God, and opportunities I have had to turn down because I didn’t have enough time.  Or did I and I just chose something else?

If this is you, take a deep breath…

You, my friend, are not alone.  We have all made trade-offs with our time.  But what if we used a different lens for our commitments?  What if we asked the question- Is this activity/ commitment/ thing I am chasing- is it worthy of the time sacrifice I will make?

If it is- great!  Definitely proceed.  But if it is not, why is it not?  Ask yourself a few more questions.  Is it something that benefits my family?  Is it something that benefits my people?  Is it a way I can give back and not make too deep of a sacrifice?

There isn’t an easy answer here, but more of a self-awareness of where your time is going.

And a reminder that if you are going to chase something- chase moments.  Chase those moments with family and with your people that fill you up.  Chase the things that matter.  Chase the things that money can’t buy that are worthwhile exchanges of time.  And then you get to keep the memories you have made.  You get to have the pictures.  The stories.  The experiences.  You get to keep it all.

What are you willing to trade your most valuable resource for?

Life is lived in the moment.  In the now.  Not stuck in the past or worried about the future.  Living in the now.  Full-on #WINtheNOW.

So make good choices with your time.  it is priceless and you can’t buy any more.

If you want to see what it would be like to work together to help discover what matters and how to use your time as a super-power, check out my success coaching page.  I look forward to keeping the conversation going.

And if you need a little more about time, check out this previous blog that I wrote.