Making the Most of Time

 

Time is one of the greatest resources given to man. Our existence here on earth is regulated by time. No wonder the psalmist said, “So teach us to number days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Ps 90:12)

Time is also one of the most valuable resources that we have. Your success or failure is determined by how well you maximize your time. What you do with your time is what you will get. If you use your time for a profitable venture, it will yield interest in quantifiable terms. If on the other way you invest your time in unprofitable venture, you will also get the reward. You can’t cheat time. You will be the greatest fool ever if you think you can fritter your time and then get profitable result. The Bible says, “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, so shall he reap.” (Gal 6:7),

And do you know what amazes me about “time”.  God has given the same amount of time to everybody whether you are rich or poor; wise or foolish; prudent or wasteful, literate or illiterate; we are all given the same amount of time. God did that for a purpose. When you are called to reckoning on the last day to give account of your starship, God will not take an excuse like, “I would have been a successful businessman like Dangote or Otedola but I only have sixteen hours.” it is the same excuses people are still giving today. “There is no time”. But the question is what have these people been doing with their time? Virtually nothing. We all know that we can’t hold time down just because we have something to do. Time itself is busy. Doing what? Ticking! When you look at the clock, it is doing its work except the battery is not good. Time doesn’t give nay excuse for not ticking. That is its job, it has to tick and we are all reminded that you have to get things done because there is not time for indolence or idleness.

I have discovered that those who are killing time can’t be successful. I have also noticed that most men that have been greatly used by God are very very equitable in the use of this resource called “time.” One man of God that I like most is Pastor W.F Kumuyi. I have come to understand that that Is set for every programme and everything has been preplanned.

One day God will ask us how we use our time. It doesn’t really matter whether you have used it well or not. Since we are all aware of this, here comes the important question: “how do we maximize our time?”

1.       For study and personal development: You can use your time for study and personal development. The personal development could be taken courses online on: www.alison.com, www.cousera.com, www.coursssonline.com. There are many free online courses you can do to develop yourself. There are paid courses too. Taking these courses might just be for your personal development and not necessarily to get jobs. Part of your self-development is reading books, novels, attending seminars, lectures, workshop, training, skill acquisition, etc. Just do anything you can to become a better YOU.

2.       For devotion: Another use of time is for devotion. It is not good to spend the whole day without having time for God. There should be a time of solitude. A time for meditation and retrospect. Philosophers and deep thinkers get their wisdom and ideologies by taking time off for meditation.

3.       Work: We spend the greater part of life working and we have to start this early if we want to be successful. Those who are rich today started work and their career early. If you want to do anything in life and you want to be successful, you have to start early.

4.       Plan: The result of time would be far-reaching if it is well-planned. If you did not plan your time way, you are not likely to achieve anything in life.

5.       For profitable venture: “In all  labours there is profit, but the talk of the lips only tended to penury.” For people, who don’t have a regulated life, engaging in unprofitable activities like: talkative, aimless visitation, loitering and gossiping is a pastime. These have become their habit and second mature and they can hardly break loose from them. No wonder they are enemies of time.

6.      

Develop your talents and skills: Some people have some latent talents like: singing, playing musical instruments, writing, creativity and so on but they have not really apid attention to what they have because of disorganized lifestyle or giving excuse that there is no time. If you want to maximize your talent and realize your God-given potentials, you need to pay attention and devote time to develop your talents. I mean what is essence of living when you are not living for what you are created? If you discovered that you have talents in arts and painting, you can denote your weekend to home that talent instead of just leaving it latent.

7.       For God and humanity: We are created to serve God here on earth and we should use our time and talents to serve God to the fullest capacity. I am doing a volunteer work at the moment in Europe. This week, I saw an aged woman about ninety years coming for volunteer work without pay. I saw another old man of about eighty years too coming for volunteer work and they just do what they are told without questioning. We have a team leader everyday (who is far younger than these aged people) and they give us our work schedule and we have to do what we were asked to do without any questioning. What I have seen here is that you hardly know who is the boss and the subordinate unlike in Nigeria. It was just this week that I got to know that the owner of the NGO has ben working with us like any other person. The other time I was working with her and I didn’t know she was the boss o the founder of the organization. Seeing some of this aged people coming to volunteer their skills and doing service for humanity struck me and I asked myself, “how much am I giving my service for God?” There are many people hungry, sick, destitute, hopeless, homeless, dying and they need our help. The only way is to give what we have is time support them either morally, mentally or materially. We need to give out time, talent, skill and what we have to for the service of God and humanity. The late Mother Theresa once said, “You don’t lose your light by lighting another man’s candle.”   

8.       To make Money: If what you are doing with your time is not profitable, then you are just wasting your time. This is because time is money. Today many young guys are making money on the social media legally. Many are smiling to the bank because they are maximizing their time on the internet. This reminds me about Jesus’ parable about labouerers in the vineyard. Jesus agrees to give every labourer a wage according to the work done. About the eleventh hour (that is around 5pm because the Jews starts counting their time by six), he saw a labourer idling and the excuse was, “no one hires me.” And Jesus asked him to do whatever he can before the work closes. It is the same excuse that people ive today that there is no work to do. But, you can always find something to do. The reason why people are jobless today is because they are bereft of ideas. If nobody engages you, you can engage yourself. I used to know a young handsome man who has no gainful employment and decides to engage himself by directing traffic and it was long before LASTMA was created. He was doing this thing dutifully and became a known face around Agidinbi area of Ikeja. When LASTMA was eventually created, he was given uniform and integrated fully into the traffic force. In Lagos, there is nothing you cannot do to survive. If you know how to package dungs or faeces and you can convince people that it is good, people will buy from you. My friend who was a banker once told me this. I am sure you have heard the story of Ola of Lagos despite the fact that things are difficult for him, but now, “it is pleeeeeeenty!” If you can throw away shame, you can make money. There are people who are just doing referrals and affiliate marketing and they are making cool money. If you are a girl or lady and you are saying “I too fine.” Go to Computer Village in Ikeja, you will see many beautiful ladies there scouting for customers. Some of them don’t have salaries, but just tea-fare for breakfast and lunch and since they have to survive, they are doing what they are doing. In conclusion, time would be happy with you If you are using it well especially to make money and to be a better person for yourself and for humanity too. If you have not been using your time well, it is not too late to retrace your step and start doing the right thing before time is gone. The best time to do something for yourself is when you are youthful and agile and not when you are old and senile. By that time, time is gone and even if you start labouring at time, you won’t enjoy the fruit of your labour because it is too late.