I Dare You #13 - Budget Your Time

​As many bettors in Vegas have discovered, despite all of the cash inside, ATM’s do not dispense an unlimited amount of money! 
 
Withdrawals are limited to the amount of funds actually deposited into your specific checking or savings account. 
 
Wouldn’t it be great if ATMs did, indeed, dispense an unlimited amount of cash?
 
And wouldn’t it be nice if you had a wealthy relative who consistently filled up your ATM accounts? 
 
Imagine for a minute that you really do/did have a wealthy relative. And from the time you were a child, this rich relative has given you an awesome ATM account, allowing you to withdraw $86,400 every day… for as long as you can remember. 
 
Given that you are a smart, well-meaning person, you would probably consistently send thank-you cards on various holidays. Sometimes you might even send cards “just because.” And as a long-time recipient of this daily gift of $86,400, you would have absolutely no reason to believe this rich relative would ever stop giving you $86,400… every single day… for the remaining years of your life.  
 
But what would happen if and when you went to the ATM to withdraw your daily allotment of $86,400, and you suddenly found the account to be closed?  
 
Empty. Overdrawn. Closed. 
 
Wow… your lifetime ATM account is now closed.  
 
But was it really YOUR account?
 
Oh, sure: you were enjoying all of the benefits of having the money pass through the account (the free money; the free-living lifestyle; and the freedom from thinking about the possibility that the withdrawals would ever stop).  
 
However, the account was never really yours, per se.
 
All you have ever really owned is and was you.  
 
But, if you think about it…
 
…if you don’t control your heartbeat (and none of us know the exact date and time of our very last heartbeat), do you really and truly “own” you - your self?
 
You… 
 
You are special and unique.

And you are not average.

You are not below average; you are not above average.

You are wonderfully blessed.

And although you may or may not have a rich relative, you **DO** have a certain wealth of time in this world.
 
And it gets better...
 
Your personal time machine is stocked with 86,400 seconds every single day.
 
Yes… every single day, you, he, she, me, and everyone we know withdraws 86,400 seconds from the “ATM of Life.” Mathematically speaking, there are 60 seconds in a minute. 60 seconds x 60 minutes equals 3,600 seconds in an hour… and 86,400 seconds in each and every day. (3,600 seconds per hour x 24 hours = 86,400 seconds each day).
 
Thus, you are blessed with something far more valuable than money:

You have the gift of time.

And when harnessed, leveraged, and invested by the wonderfully gifted person that is you, time becomes a tool that is more valuable than the prettiest diamond, more useful than the handiest gadget, and more powerful than anyone you know (with regard to your specific life).
 
Yet, we often waste so much of our time.  
 
Your time is HERE while you invest in the knowledge found in these few words.  
 
Your time is also THERE when you undermine yourself by watching divisive talk shows that disguise themselves as “news programs.” It is there when you spend too many minutes, hours, and collective days revering things and people who simply do not deserve one single second of your most precious resource.  
 
After today, on what will you continue to spend your sacred seconds? 
 
(Remember; your account could be closed tomorrow). 
 
Let’s look at an example of the similarities of how time and money are used.
 
If you drive, then you probably pay for gas to power your car. If you ride the bus or train, you probably pay to use public transportation. The price for a tank of gas and the fare for a ride on the bus are far cheaper than the cost of the time you spend on unnecessary diversions of your life’s allotment of minutes, hours, and days.  
 
Allow me to explain:
 
A tank full of gas is a tangible, useful product.
 
A ride on the bus is a tangible, useful service of transportation that is provided in exchange for your money. These are good uses of money.
 
But take a minute and consider what you are getting in exchange for your (wasted) attention. As you will soon see, you are probably paying far too much (attention) for things that are absolutely worth less than what you think. 
 
I will say it again… 
 
Worth "less” than you think.  
 
Absolutely worthless.
 
In this attention-starved world, many of us are living way beyond our current means. We spend so much attention on tiny bright screens, people at work, cars on the roads, signs on the street; songs in our heads; commercials in between; magazines; newspapers; neighbors; junk mail; and (fill in the blank here: _________ ).
 
And yet, many of us fail to budget an appropriate amount of time for healthy living, including consuming the BEST ideas, thoughts, and foods (uplifting, positive, and fruits & vegetables, respectively); resting our minds, bodies and souls; and spending time with those who mean the most to us.
 
Notice the verbs in the previous paragraph: budget, consume, resting, and spending.
 
Budgeting our time is actually a great way to plan for a successful life.
 
Ahhhh… but what is our contemporary definition of success?
 
Do you want to make more… so you can spend more?
 
Do you want to have more… so you can be sure?
 
Of course, you can do whatever you want… and most of us do just that, within reason. Concurrently, I recommend budgeting your time… 
 
If you budget your time, you can do so much more with what you currently have.
 
In reality, budgeting your time is sorta kinda like “planning for life.” And as you and I know, (real) life is what happens when we are busy planning for something different.

​Accordingly, let’s plan (and do) those things that we speciously say are important to us. When we invest time budgeting our time, we are on our way to ensuring a solid investment into what really matters in life… and not just those things of which we often want more (… the kind of things for which you can pay and/or borrow money).
 
Undoubtedly, we are a consumerist society.
 
But what exactly are we feeding our minds, bodies, and souls?
 
Think about it: When was the last time you spent 30 undisturbed minutes thinking ONLY about you?

Better yet, when was the last time you spent 30 minutes thinking about absolutely nothing?

​Some call this type of thinking “meditation.”  
 
I call it "necessary."
 
Lastly, why do we casually say that we “spend” time with friends and family?
 
Clearly, our friends and family are assets... not liabilities.
 
Accordingly, let’s call the time shared with friends and family “an investment.”
 
Likewise, time shared helping others, bettering your self, and becoming an active part of the solution set are investments of time that you can do today – right now.
 
And here’s a sweet little secret you should never, ever forget: 
 
The most basic definition of “now” is…
 
“Your attention.”
 
Whatever you are doing right "now..." and the next "now" and the next...
...are indicators of how you are paying (spending or investing) your attention.
 
And now that I have your attention, consider this:
 
Professional financial planners (those people who get paid to manage other people’s money) advise us to “pay ourselves first,” which is to say that we should first set aside funds for savings… and then pay and spend our remaining funds on other necessities and wants.
 
Of course, we don’t all do this. However, if we accept and adapt to this sage advice, we will likely achieve some degree of financial success later in life.
 
Indeed, the same advice applies to our time budget.
 
If we first set aside time for self, we will likely achieve some degree of personal, professional, and social success later in life, regardless of how the definition of success is delineated.
 
So how do we do this?
 
How does one go about setting aside time for self first?
 
Start by...

   ...budgeting your time.

Then clean your glasses - the way you look at the world.

...and clean them often.
 
Remember:  Our time budget is firmly fixed at a finite amount - twenty-four hours every single day of every single year. And we will never get one more hour, one more minute, or even one more second. Unfortunately, our contemporary lifestyles reflect an almost bankrupt, cavalier attitude toward the limited time we have NOW. Interestingly, even if we **could** somehow gain a bit more time, we would probably squander away those extra minutes, too. 
 
It’s time to pay attention to what I am saying. 
 
You can’t borrow from yesterday or tomorrow.  
 
All you have is today. 
 
What will you spend your attention on today?  
 
Think about your answer… before your account is closed.
 
Then again,
 
...there's Always Tomorrow... Maybe (ATM).
 
~ ~ ~ 
 
Indeed…
 
It’s all about YOU. 
 
But tell me: 
 
What’s your role in your soul, your goal, and for whom the bell tolls? 
 
Today, I dare you:

Budget Your Time.
 
Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®

John H. Clark III is an optimistic realist.
 
He believes better development of leaders is what we (all) need.  And to be better organizations, we need more good leaders, not followers. To build better leaders, we must start with the individual (you, she, he, and me).
 
Described as “an innovative leader,” John teaches leaders, organizations, and individuals how to inspire each other. With a bold goal to inspire a worldwide community of optimistic realists who continuously accept, adapt to, and achieve the bold and beautiful concept of The Ideal Life, John is leading a movement to inspire people to apply his trademarked mantra {Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®}.
 
An innovative business manager and retired naval officer, John is fascinated by leaders and organizations that make the greatest impact within their organizational culture and within the “real” world — people who “get it.” Over the course of his life as a military leader, corporate mentor, and innovative content creator, John has discovered a wealth of insight about how we think, act and communicate within our respective work/life environments. As a career naval officer, mentor, educator, and optimistic realist, he has devoted his life to sharing insights to assist in our quests to become better at what we all do – live @ work!
 
An optimist with a penchant for writing about realistic solutions to the challenges of everyday life, John is the author of 3 books: a leadership-development insider, "The Ideal: Your guide to An Ideal Life," a teen-focused guide, "Getting Out: Expert Advice for Today’s Teens," and the Christian-based book, "God’s Heartbeat: A Powerful Premise for Leading a Christian Life."
 
He delivers a unique and refreshing point of view to life's seemingly overwhelming situations. 
 
Through books, blogs, and everyday conversation, John's message resonates with an empowering blend of ideals that enrich, uplift, and “authorize” people to set and achieve goals far beyond current mindsets.  His trademarked phrase is a winner: ​