Adding Value: Your Time, Your Life by Henry Ukazu

Dear Destiny Friends,

Life is the most precious and valuable asset a living being has. That’s why they find it hard to give up when danger comes. However, it’s quite unfortunate many people decide to take their lives when they feel frustrated as a result of one challenge or another.

But at the center of your life is your time.

What you do with your time determines how your life will unfold. If you use your time wisely by engaging in productive activities, you are bound to reap the fruits of your labour. If you spend your time on irrelevant things and people, you are as good as dead, though still existing.

Oftentimes, we read the biographies and autobiographies of some people; what makes their stories interesting are the challenges they had to go through and how they overcome them. But the most significant part of their success story is that they were intentional and deliberate in investing their time in developing their craft. In similar vein, if you are asked, what’s the story of your life? What will you say? I believe in answering this question, you will also take into consideration what you invested your time in, the people you met, and the places you went that changed the trajectory of your life. This goes to tell you that the story of your life is not complete without the mention of the time in your life. Moral: You are in control of your life, you decide what happens to your life.

In my first published book Design Your Destiny, I stressed the importance of time and how you can design your life by first of all having a purpose, knowing what you want, identifying what’s unique about you, making the right choice, turning your failures into your friend in order to unleash your potentials, practicing meditation, appreciating who you are by practicing gratitude, making judicious use of your time, and networking with the right people, associations, and organisations.

According to Fela Durutoye, a leadership coach, “if you waste your time, you are committing murder, but if you waste other people’s time, you are committing suicide”. It’s important to note that, as human beings, we all have 24hours like every other great person, but what makes the difference is what we invest and do with our time. Your time can be regarded as your life. Isn’t it true that what you focus on, expands? If you give your energy to studying, attending resourceful events, looking out for the right mentors, and being deliberate and international in what you are doing, you are more than likely to reap the benefits.

You cannot underestimate the value of time. When asked what do you prefer most, your time or life, what will be your response? Even though both of time are extremely important, life will likely be more valuable to you, but if you look closely, time is what makes up your life. So, both are extremely important.

As humans, one of the strongest powers in life is the power to decide on what we want, and this power is centered on choice. The power of choice cannot be overemphasized. You can say, your choice is your life. Choice is the greatest power available to mankind. In whatever you do, you are making choice. Choice is not only applicable in elections, it governs your entire life. For instance, before you eat a particular meal, you have a choice of eating other varieties of food,  before you wear a particular cloth, you made a conscious choice on the reason and purpose the cloth will serve you before you chose a course of study and career path, you decide on the interest, even in marriage, business, and in your personal and professional life, you are continuously in the habit if making a decision on what to do.

One of the ways to know a human being is to see what they invest their time on. In order to make a headway in life, you have to be intentional and deliberate on the kind of choice you are willing to make because your life is centered on the choice you make and the time you are willing to invest in the choice.

A great factor that can influence your life is the sacrifice you are willing to make to achieve what you desire. Anything you literally desire, you will make time for it. That’s just the bitter truth, you cannot like somebody and not have time to relate with them. Nobody is literally too busy to pick your call, if you are very important to them, they will either pick your call when you call or return your call as soon as practicable if they were not available to pick your call when you called.  Moral: You will sacrifice your time for what you want.

I don’t really believe people have no time; we all have time, it’s just that we apportion our time to our interest. Haven’t you seen people reading a lengthy post, buy books, watching Netflix, Hollywood, and Nollywood videos? Some people even travel and pay for services in thousands of dollars. Why, because they see value in it.

Another component of your life is your health. Your health is the greatest asset you have. When you lose your health, you have lost everything. You will only be alive to work, read, and enjoy life, but if you have not health on your side, you’ll be forced to accept your faith. That is it is highly advisable to spend a great deal of time taking care of your health. I personally sleep, play music, travel, and enjoy the company of others when I’m stressed or feel tired in order to rejig myself, but none has been more potent than having a good rest, a good sleep. The feeling is priceless.

In conclusion, when your time and life align, you will get satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, and happiness. You will know your strength and weakness. You will discover your interest and what works and what doesn’t work for you.  All these are sources of strength for you.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a mindset coach and public speaker. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com