“Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them”

Dion Bousicault ( 1820-1890)

Irish-born actor & dramatist

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How could anyone in their right mind want to kill time? To want to kill time, in my opinion, is a confession of imbecility because time is what life is made of. Sometimes, we are at work thinking of what we could do on the weekend. However, when the weekend comes, do you ever find yourself doing nothing? So you wasted productive time at work because you were daydreaming, and now you are wasting free time because you did not plan in advance. You are caught off guard at the last minute.

I have a  personal example that happened to my wife and I a few times. We have 3 young children who still need a babysitter when we go out. Sometimes, we had the chance to find a babysitter at the last minute. This was great, but since we had only about 60 to 90 minutes of free time together, our options were limited. By the time we agreed on what we both wanted to do, 20 to 30 minutes had already gone by.

So I asked myself; how can I avoid this kind of situation when our time is so limited and so precious?

Solution: I made a list of dozens of activities that require very little time and that are enjoyable. Since then, we can use these precious minutes in a smarter way.

Exception: Sometimes I choose to relax because I want to, and in this case, it’s not a waste of time.

When we know exactly what we want and what we like, it’s easier to use our time in a smarter way.

Do you often find yourself “killing” precious time ?

Most of the happiness and success you enjoy in life will be determined by the quality of your relationship with others.

Building relationships takes time because it is all about the development of trust.

“See first to understand, then to be understood.”

“Do your best to be there when they really need you.”

Concentrate on building a high level of trust. One decision at a time.

Protect your long term reputation.

Your quality of life will be enhanced by it.

Let time work to your advantage. Be patient.

Do I always choose correctly, obviously NO.

Do I always practice what I preach, unfortunately NO.

And by becoming aware of this, I keep improving every day.

I control what I eat, drink or don’t drink. I decide to exercise or not to exercise. I can waste time surfing the web aimlessly or I can read good books with a clear objective in mind. I can stay by myself or meet with interesting people. I can take some classes or stay ignorant. I can be generous or greedy. I can be patient or impatient. I can be angry or peaceful. I can be dissatisfied or thankful.  I can be optimistic or negative. I control with who I want to spend time with and who I don’t want to spend time with. I decide who can influence me and who can’t . These choices are mine and mine alone most of the time.

What will your choices be today?

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• Original article
• Television viewing time and reduced life expectancy:

The sand can go through the hourglass or escape from it when we are careless with our hourglass. 

This can happen to our personal time when we become distracted.

The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

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 “Procrastination is the thief of time.”

Edward Young (1683-1765) British poet

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A lot of people are afraid to lose their health.

In most cases, we can and will regain our health.

A lot of people are afraid to lose their friends.

We can always make new friends.

A lot of people are afraid to lose their money.

But we can always earn more money.

Very few people are conscious of the time they are wasting

Procrastination robs us of our time, life is short.

In which area of your life are you procrastinating?

Why ?

Fascination is one step above interest. You will learn more from being fascinated by life than you will from being frustrated by it.

In the last couple of years I have developped a childlike fascination with life and people.

I’m fascinated with so many things like foreign cultures, technological innovations, scientific discoveries, the vastness of the Universe, art and music styles, books, movies, and people from all walks of life.

What frustrates me every day? To know that I will not be able to see it all, to experience it all, to learn it all.

I guess this is why my biggest fascination for the last couple of years has been about the brevity of life and how limited our time is as humans. This is how I turned my frustration into fascination.

To make sure I keep myself fascinated, I keep a list of more than 140 goals and dreams to accomplish. These include books to read, cities to visit, new countries to discover, new skills to learn, old ones to re-learn, investments to make, new people to meet. I’m interested in so many different things that it would be too long to enumerate.

Today’s question for you is the following:

Most of the time, are you still fascinated or frustrated with life?

“If you’re not doing something with your life, it doesn’t matter how long it is. If you’re doing something with your life, it doesn’t matter how long it is. Life does not consist of years lived, but of its usefulness.
If you are giving, loving, serving, helping, encouraging and adding value to others, you have a useful life”

Author unknown

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It seems to me that we are stubborn students of life.

Life seems to tell us; here is a situation you need to face for your own developpement, and yet, most of the time, we will try to avoid the lesson. Why? Because it’s too damned hard! The curious thing about this is: the lesson we try to avoid seems to come back to us in many unexpected ways. Somehow, we can’t escape it. We have to meet the challenge.

An example?

I know some people (actually quite a lot of them) who move from relationship to relationship only to discover after a while the same problems they were experiencing in the previous relationship. It seems to me that what they are trying to avoid comes back to them in another form and with a new label.

Personally, I start too many new projects and I don’t finish all of them. I know it, I’m aware of this but somehow, it doesn’t seem  to change. I have to admit I can’t do  it alone. When I face this kind of situation, I try to find a coach, a mentor or a personal trainer to make sure I am accountable to someone.

When we focus on the moment and accept to face what we have to, it can be difficult, but it is one of the best ways to grow, to outgrow the challenge.

What does this post have to do with time?

If we do what WE MUST do when WE HAVE TO do it, the day will come when we will do what WE WANT to do WHEN WE WANT TO do it.

The sooner we understand this concept and we put it in practice, the more time we will save to do other activities that we really enjoy.

Will you try it?

Today is a gift.

Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery.
That is why it is called Present.

Anonymous

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“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

Confucius

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We are so good at making  life complicated. Don’t you find it amazing that we can send people on the moon and bring them back and yet,  so many of us have a hard time dealing with our day to day lives?

There is no cure for birth and death , save to enjoy the interval.

George Santayana

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Did you ask to be born?

Will you ask to die?

I doubt it.

In between, we have to make the best of life with the talent we posess and the time that is given to us.

It is so simple. I wonder why some of us make it so complicated.

Do you know why?

Live with intention.
Walk to the edge. 
Listen hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Appreciate your friends.
Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.

Mary Anne Radmacher

Beware complexifiers & complicators. Truly, “smart people” …simplify things.

Tom Peters

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Living isn’t complicated, feeding yourself  isn’t complicated, finding a roof over your head isn’t complicated, learning new skills isn’t complicated, making new friends isn’t complicated, It’s actually quite easy.

Why do so many of us have the tendency to complicate very simple puzzles and transform them into very difficult problems to solve? Are we some kind of maso-psycho-slow-destructive-kamikaze unto ourselves?

When you meet with someone who tells you that something is very complicated,  First BEWARE, then RELAX because it’s probably not.

What will you try to simplify today?

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”

Helen Keller

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Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as “an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain”, which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind.

For the rest of her life, she has learned many lessons even with what most of us would consider severe handicaps.

“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.”

Virginia Satir

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Realism. Why is it so difficult to be realistic? To see things as they really are and not as we want them to be. To learn to accept things as they are, is, in my opinion, the beginning of Wisdom.

To accept things as they are, we must acknowledge the difference between what we control and what we don’t control.

The challenge is to figure out which is which.

Do you accept things as they are?

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”

John Lennon (1940-80) British rock musician

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We often say things like, “when I’m older, I’ll do this; if I had more time, I would start this project; when my children are grown up, I’ ll have more time to take  care of myself.” If, If, If, when, when, when…are just excuses to test our resolution.

When we really care about someone, we do what we must do.

When we really care about something, we become very creative in order to get what we want.

What we can be, we must become, ultimately, it is one of the best ways to be at peace with ourselves.

Stop waiting and Start acting NOW.

What are you waiting for?

“Now is the time”

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

American civil rights leader & Nobel prize Prize winner

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Martin Luther King died at 39 years of age. When we look at everything he accomplished in such a short period of time,

I think that he fully practiced what he preached. He was totally focused on his task.

What fascinates me is that with so little time, he produced RESULTS that are timeless.

Doesn’t it fascinate you that he accomplished so much in so little time?

How focused are you on YOUR tasks , on YOUR projects, on YOUR life passion?

What will be YOUR legacy?

If you concentrate…

It’s possible to make the next hour a good hour,

and then the next morning a good morning,

next comes

a good day,

a good week,

a good month,

a good season,

a good year,

a good decade,

chances are you will have a fairly good life.

Life is a succession of moments and you choose how to react to each one of them. (good and not as good)

How will you choose to react to your next moment?

Time Flies! Use your time well by avoiding meaningless busy work.

At every instant of every day, you are making a choice of how you spend your time.

You have a very limited amount of time, so your time is extremely valuable.

You can’t do everything you consider doing, or everything others demand of you.

You establish your real priorities in life by the way you choose to spend your time.

Whenever you spend time on some low-value activity you have chosen your priorities…

But have you chosen well?

I must figure out what I have control over and what I don’t have control over.

So what do I have control over?

I have some control on the choices that I make here and now.

In every 24 hour period, I try to make the best choices possible with the knowledge, the resources and the opportunities that I have.

Every minute, well not every minute but as often as possible, I try to become aware of my thoughts and my decisions. When I try to choose correctly at every moment, I should have a good and productive hour, when I try to choose correctly every hour, I should have a good and productive day, when I try to choose correctly every day, I should end up with a good and productive week, and month, and year and decade ….

What control do you have over your daily choices?

“It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. “

Oliver Wendell Holmes

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“It is not easy to find something that will intrigue and bind your interest and enthusiasm.

This you must seek for yourself. “
Walter Annenberg

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“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game.

And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win. “

Michael Jordan

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“I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom. “

Anatole France

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“Enthusiasm moves the world.”

Arthur Balfour

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