Value your time above everything else

The concept of effective time management is crucial in helping any individual succeed, both professionally and personally. However, most people never seem to place as much value or importance on their time as they do on their money or other activities.

While it is true that other aspects of life play a pivotal role, the notion of time is something that is fundamentally central to success. We often hear people say that they wish they had more time or they simply never have enough time to do the things they’d like. This is true for almost everyone, including us, but it doesn’t get away from the core idea that your time is the most precious thing you own.

For a lot of people, their monetary possessions such as a house or a car is the most valuable thing they own. But, the danger of placing such value on material aspects is that it results in neglecting the notion of time. More specifically valuing your own time.

When you take a step back, you actually realise that a lot of physical possessions such as the items mentioned above, can be replaced, upgraded or downgraded at any stage of life. However, you can never recover your time. Once a moment has passed, it has passed forever.

With that being said, the central theme for this week's blog is to highlight why you should value your time above everything else.

Time management
The first component of valuing your time effectively is to actually develop your time management skills. Whether you are in employment or a business owner, you need to master the skill of managing your time in the most efficient way.

This could include staying disciplined to ensure you complete core tasks within a defined period or prioritising tasks in order of importance. Making the most productive use of your time can have many benefits such as a sense of satisfaction when you hit objectives or actually freeing up some time to enjoy leisure activities.

While we all profess to have time management skills, when the pressure is on and we have deadlines/targets to meet, our time management strategies are replaced with just working harder rather than smarter.

Wasting time
Let’s be honest, it is actually really easy to waste time. We have all been guilty of this whether we like to admit it or not. For example, the rise in popularity of streaming services over the last few months is testament to this.

Whether it is watching your favourite series on Netflix every night or watching every sports game available, there are a number of ways we can all procrastinate. However, while it is important to have ‘downtime’ and switch off, you should always keep your eyes on the prize or objective.

No amount of leisure activities will truly help you achieve your goals, whether they are personal or professional objectives. There is no quick fix for success. It is all about hard work, dedication and sacrifice.

Personal development
Your time should be invested in activities that help you grow and develop as an individual. Whether you are looking for a promotion at work or to build a business part/full time, you need to invest your time.

Here at iOB Business, we advise all partners that join our network to really focus on their personal development by completing external courses or reading articles to build their wider knowledge. Working on yourself doesn’t need to be a 35 hours per week job, but you should focus a few hours per week on broadening your knowledge as this will ultimately benefit you in the long run.

Long term plan
Following on from the above, valuing your time above everything else will actually help you meet your long term goals. To achieve your long term aspirations, such as becoming a successful business owner, you need to have a long term plan. This plan is then broken down into sub-tasks which can only be achieved by valuing your time.

Taking a long term view can help you actually retain the discipline you need to succeed. If you think about most people, especially those in full time employment, they are generally free from 6 PM onwards. Sure, we all have other commitments outside of work such as family etc, but on average we still have around 3 hours per night to devote to our long term plans. That equates to 15 hours of free time during the working week and at least that much over the course of the weekend. By having a long term vision, you can actually put that free time to the most productive use possible.

Having fun
Valuing your time above everything else is important for the reasons mentioned in this blog. However, it is still important to have some fun and switch off, whether that is reading a book, watching TV or enjoying the great outdoors. The old saying of all work and no play comes to mind. The key is to do everything in moderation.

When you truly find something you are passionate about and you build a living out of it, it actually stops being a job or even work. That truly is the key to success, finding something you are most passionate about. For some people, this is being their own boss and for others it’s their dream job. When you pursue your passion, you don’t actually mind spending your time fulfilling your goals.

This is one of the key reasons why we are so passionate about empowering the next generation of digital entrepreneurs with our Digital Agency business opportunity. We live and breathe technology. It’s for this reason we have an unrelenting focus on developing new technology platforms, resources and training to help our partners build their businesses.

Conclusion
As we have seen throughout this week's blog, to succeed in life and business, you need to value your time above everything else. Sure, it’s easier said than done and requires sacrifices but the end result is so rewarding.

Focusing your time on activities that will help you grow as an individual will help you realise your professional and personal ambitions. To find out more about how we help each partner with all aspects of their Digital Agency, please contact a member of our team.

Until next time, take care.