Tag Archives: Time

Enjoy your precious time while you’re here

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Enjoy your precious time while you’re here.

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Luke Chesser

Today’s quote is a simple yet profound reminder that captures the essence of living fully in the moment.

It emphasizes that life is not just about achieving goals but embracing the journey with purpose and presence.

Time — our most valuable asset — once spent cannot be reclaimed. To truly thrive, we must align our daily actions with what matters most, cultivating meaning and significance beyond fleeting success.

Coaching is about breaking patterns and creating new worlds where you deepen learning and enhance your quality of life. We do this by honoring our time, by being fully engaged, appreciating the now, and investing in what truly enriches our life and the lives of others.

EXERCISE:

Consider exploring The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin as a personal experiment in applying happiness research to everyday life.

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time — that’s the stuff life is made of.”

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“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time — that’s the stuff life is made of.”

Benjamin Franklin, oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence

Image from Wikipedia

Poor Richard’s Almanac, published annually by Benjamin Franklin from 1732 to 1758, was very popular in the American colonies. It contained a mix of practical advice, humorous anecdotes, aphorisms, puzzles, and even weather forecasts.

Franklin used it to share enlightenment principles such as reason, self-improvement, and practical wisdom, which fit very nicely with the purpose of The Quotable Coach blog.

Here are few noteworthy nuggets of Franklin’s wisdom to ponder:

  • Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
  • Well done is better than well said.
  • Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.
  • He that can have patience can have what he will.
  • A true friend is the best possession.

EXERCISE:

In what ways can you better use your precious time to learn, grow, and contribute to others in your various communities?

Which of Franklin’s other quotes are worthy of additional consideration at this time in your life?

“The right time was yesterday. The best time is now.”

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“The right time was yesterday. The best time is now.”

—Author Unknown

Image from Unsplash by Kaja Kadlecova

Consider the good habits you admire in others. Who are the people in your world that eat right, exercise regularly, and call their mom even when it’s not her birthday or other special occasion?

Many of us have developed an array of handy-dandy excuses for putting off the tasks that we know will better our lives in the long run.

Where do you fit on the continuum of procrastinator to the folks who do things now?

EXERCISE:

Two books that may prove useful if this quote rings true for you are The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink. Continue reading →

Where and when is it time to walk away from things not meant for you?

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Where and when is it time to walk away from things not meant for you?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Kelli McClintock

When we’re young it seems like we have all the time in the world to do whatever we like. Wasting time was clearly for the older set and their efforts to be responsible and productive.

As we age, it appears that many of us get the message, and we begin examining how we spend our precious time becomes a much higher priority.

Just as you would not continue eating a buffet item you didn’t care for, walking — or even running — away from people and things that don’t suit your tastes seems a wise choice to feed and fuel us moving forward.

EXERCISE:

Where in your personal and professional life would it be wise to stop engaging with people and pursuits clearly not meant for you?

“Allocate time well ahead of time.”

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“Allocate time well ahead of time.”

—Arthur C. Brooks, Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School

Image from Unsplash by Luke Chesser

“Time management” is a misnomer. Time flies while having fun, and moves along on its own even when we’re not having such a good time.

I prefer the term allocate, as in today’s quote. It conveys levels of intentionality and prioritization in the way many people try to wisely save and spend their money.

Time is life’s ultimate currency.

We only get so much and when it’s gone it’s gone. Investing this precious resource reminds me of the phrase, Plan your work and Work your plan.

Even when we are not working it seems wise to allocate significant periods of our days to the priorities of family, community, health, and leisure to keep things operating optimally.

EXERCISE:

In what areas of your life would allocating your time more wisely make the biggest difference? What blocks of time works best for you to apply this planning practice?

To achieve great things, two things are needed

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“To achieve great things, two things are needed: A plan, and not quite enough time.”

—Leonard Bernstein, 20th century American conductor, composer, and author

Image from Unsplash by Alvaro Reyes

What significant tasks or projects have you always wanted to tackle?

How often do you use the lack of time as the reason for putting them off?

How often do you see an empty calendar when all the stars align for you to begin?

When such rare days appear, how frequently are you diverted into some other far more pleasant venture?

What would happen if we simply used the small blocks of time we do have to first plan our efforts and then nibble away at our elephants, one bite at a time?

EXERCISE:

Schedule 5 to 15 minutes today to create a plan for a small or modest size project.

Allocate 5 to 15 minutes each day this week to execute the items in your plan. Take note of the momentum created by just being in action.

Using this approach, what will it take to create something great?

Leave some wiggle room in your days to help navigate life’s unexpected events

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Leave some wiggle room in your days to help navigate life’s unexpected events.

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Eric Rothermel

When was the last time you had a doctor’s appointment that occurred on time? It’s common to be told to arrive early for most visits and even more common to be welcomed into your appointed time late.

In the past few months our need for doctor visits increased and with the help of some very understanding medical staff we found some wiggle room in their back-to-back appointment world.

One doctor’s office even went on to tell us that they intentionally block off some extra time each day for such events to accommodate the expected unexpected needs of their patients.

EXERCISE:

Where and how could your life benefit if you added some extra wiggle room in your days?

How might this buffer time reduce stress and have others around you feel more at ease?

“Embrace time instead of racing it.”

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“Embrace time instead of racing it.”

—Seth Godin, American author and entrepreneur

Image from Unsplash by Balazc Busznyak

This year we broke our “snow bird” season into two trips.

Since we like to bring many of our creature comforts along for our extended stays, we take our SUV, which recently reached its 100,000-mile mark.

Our first trip involved over 1,100 challenging miles of exhaust-laden construction, and the ever-ambitious lead-footed drivers always looking to shave a minute or two off their journeys.

On our second trip we chose to take the auto train from Lorton VA to Sanford FL, which saved us around 17 hours behind the wheel.

With an average speed of just over 50 miles per hour, Wendy and I embraced our time together, and even got some shut-eye as we chugged our way south.

EXERCISE:

Where and how often do you find yourself racing the clock?

How would slowing down a bit and embracing more moments lead to a more fulfilling and happier life?

In this short life that only lasts an hour

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“In this short life that only lasts an hour, how much-how-little is within our power?”

—Emily Dickenson, 19th Century American Poet

Image from The Kids Should See This Blog

I often read the blog The Kids Should See This in hopes of finding fascinating items to share with my daughter and our two grandchildren. A few weeks ago, I watched a video to help visualize man’s role on earth compared to the age of the universe. Here are some things I learned:

  • Our universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old.
  • Our solar system is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old.
  • The earliest forms of life on Earth appeared 3.7 billion years ago.
  • 550,000 to 750,000 years ago was the beginning of homo sapiens lineage.
  • 100,000 to 210,000 years ago we see fossils of homo sapiens living outside of Africa.
  • 15,000 to 40,000 years ago genetics and fossils show homo sapiens became the only surviving human species.

EXERCISE:

Do a bit of math to calculate the time each generation—including our own—has to spend on our beautiful blue world. How will you use your power to make sure many more future generations can continue doing this exercise?

Check out this to scale/time video that visualizes 13.8 billion years—It’s definitely worth 10 minutes of your time!