Sushiksha

Importance of Time

When Buddha was asked "What is the biggest mistake we do in our lives?", The Buddha replied "The biggest mistake is we suppose we have time". 

Few days back, I had met my good old schoolmate when he told me about how his life is slipping without doing anything. “Why don’t you try mastering some new skills?” I asked, to which I get a reply of “I have no time, I wish a day was of 48 hours instead of 24”. So we went on talking about how he could change himself and his mindset. It’s actually not about having time, it’s about the priorities. You don’t need 48 hours per day to be successful, because if you don’t have time with 24 hours, you won’t have time even with 48 hours a day. Time is not a pretty thing to say I don't have it. Every person in this world wants to be successful, learn or start something new, But most of them don’t! 

Time is the most precious resource because you can’t get it back, none of us know how much time we have. People often think of money as their most valuable resource, but it's possible to get it back. Time, however, is most valuable and once it’s gone, it’s gone.

So, what is the actual problem?

Let’s just admit it, we’ve all set goals that we’ve never met. From broken New year's resolution to failing to complete that online course you always wanted to, goals have a nasty habit of not being met. When you fix a big goal to yourself like “read a book”, your mind will start procrastinating as you feel so overwhelmed by this huge goal. However, instead of committing to reading a book, commit to “read for 1 hour every day from 10 pm to 11 pm”, now this is something your brain can handle. If you set a deadline for everything you do, you will be surprised by how easy things can be done. You can read 20 books by reading 20 minutes every day. Small things add up to become a big goal. We have time to sleep, have food and check our social media feeds. Why? Because these have become priorities to us. Everyone has the same 24 hours per day. How we choose to use it determines what we have the time to do. We think that people are wasting our time but we are giving them permission to do that. Reality is these two people live inside us.

What can we do about it?

Time missed is equal to opportunities missed. I'd like to recall my SOTP orientation memories, where we were told "Opportunites are like buses, if you miss one you'll get another but not the same one". Most of us think we’re very busy watching, reading, running, or spending time with people, but we’re actually not. 

Let’s try something. Take a pen and a paper and write your most important things in life according to your priority. Family? College life? Friends? YouTube? Instagram?. Let's now think about it, are you really spending your time with the things that matter you? If not, then you’re either spending most of your time on the wrong thing or you've set the wrong priorities. While spending time on one of those wrong priorities, question yourself "What am i actually doing? Is it really connected to the huge dream I have? I spent an hour browsing Instagram feed, what is the outcome? Is it zero or is it negative?". Questioning yourself can prove as a key element to fight the nasty habit of letting time slip away.

In summary,

• Set a system where you keep goals that are actually 'achievable'.

• Set a deadline to each of those goals and clear your priorities.

• Question yourself when you're choosing the wrong priority.

Before we end, I have a bad news and a good news for you. Bad news is time flies, but the good news is YOU are the pilot.

~ Nagaraj Pandith