“It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested,” according to philosopher, Seneca
As a professional speaker and coach, I am often asked to manage time and stay focused to produce great results in such a busy world of ours. The truth is, time cannot be managed, and it’s only the activities that can be managed within time, not time itself.
One of my favourite philosophers is Lucius Annaeus Seneca. He was a Roman statesman and stoic philosopher. Seneca offers us a reminder on the non-renewability of our most important resource – our time. So, with this in mind, here are a few most important insights for time management from the writings of Seneca;
Treat time as a commodity
People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time, they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy time. While the amount of time we get is uncertain but one thing that is certain is, it is limited.
Don’t invest your time preparing for life in the future
Live right now, do not delay happiness. The life in the future you’re working towards may never come. We are so busy worried about the future that we often let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized. And when we are old and on our death beds, we finally realise how short life is, and left with the regret of not making the most of it when we could. Yes, plan your future well but don’t let it steal the precious present.
