Ah! Time!! So real but also so very elusive!!!
Time is universally acknowledged to be one of the most (if not “the most”) precious resource in the universe and we should utilize every moment, rather every split second, of it. But let’s be honest, most of us, including yours truly, do not optimally use the time we have. We squander, idle, and waste time despite being fully aware that time that is lost, is lost forever, and we can never ever get it back. We do not have the ability to store time, nor increase it at our will, but we do have the ability to misspend time and we all exercise this ability, sometime unconsciously, but often, with deliberate cognizance. William Penn, the founder of the US state now known as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, very rightly said “time is what we want most, but use worst.”
There are numerous quotes, articles, sermons, and even books written on the value of time, utilization of time, time management, etc. My objective in this article is not to prepare another compendium on time but share a simple strategy that helps in appreciating the value of time and as a result, can lead to an increase in our productivity.
Several years ago, I would say about a score and a half, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with a gentleman named Mr. Pushkar Lal Kedia in Kolkata, India. Mr. Kedia is a renowned philanthropist, mentor to several service organizations, author of several books and articles on spirituality and character building. He has been twice honored by the President of India and been decorated with numerous other awards, honors, and felicitations.
During our meeting we discussed many things but one of the most memorable discussion we had was on the subject of time and appreciating its value. Mr. Kedia narrated a parable which, whenever I recollect, makes me not squander my time. I am recollecting the parable from my memory and very likely, not exactly the way it was told to me but I am quite confident I have retained the essence of the lesson. Also, I have taken the liberty to slightly modify what Mr. Kedia told me and also expounded it. More or less, the following is what he said:
To appreciate the value of a month, ask the student who had to repeat a whole year of school because an illness prevented him from attending school for a month;
To appreciate the value of a week, ask the publisher of a weekly magazine who could not publish the magazine in a certain week and lost thousands of readers as a result;
To appreciate the value of a day, ask a worker who works on daily wages and because he could not work one day, he and his family had to sleep hungry;
To appreciate the value of an hour, imagine the pain suffered by a mother who has to endure the pain of labor for an additional hour because of certain unforeseen complicacies;
To appreciate the value of a minute, ask a person who missed a flight because he was late by a minute and could not participate in a business meeting which could have been very lucrative;
To appreciate the value of a second, ask the person who fortuitously vacates a building a second before it is ravaged by fire;
To understand the value of a split second, ask the athlete competing in the Olympic Games who misses winning the gold medal because he was behind by only one-tenth of a second.
The key to truly realizing the value of time and utilizing it optimally may perhaps lie in always perceiving ourselves in the shoes of an athlete contending for a gold medal in the Olympic Games.
Life is Precious….Live Well