TIME: Your indispensable ally to success

Time is the ultimate equal opportunity employer. Time never stops to rest, never hesitates, never looks forward or backward. Life’s raw material spends itself in the now, this moment, which is why how you spend your time is far more important than all the material possessions you may own or positions you may obtain. Positions change, possessions come and go, you can earn more money tomorrow but time lost is irredeemable. You can renew your supply of many things, but like good health, that other most precious resource, time spent is gone forever.

Results are the best measurement of human progress, not conversation, explanation or justification. Lasting and meaningful results only come by the effective use of your time. If your results are less than your potential suggests that they should be, then you must strive to become more today than you were the day before by effectively using your time. You should always remember that the greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value to themselves and the world around them as a result of whom and what they have become with the passing of time.

You must pause frequently to remind yourselves that the clock is ticking. The same clock that began to tick from the moment you drew your first breath will also someday cease. To succeed in life, you should aim to do all that you can, every moment that you can, the best that you can, for as long as you can. The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it finally arrives, it is called today. Today is yesterday's tomorrow. The question is what did you do with today’s opportunity? All too often you will waste tomorrow as you wasted yesterday, and as you are wasting today. All that could have been accomplished can easily elude you, despite your intentions, until you inevitably discover that the things that might have been have slipped from your embrace a single, unused day at a time. You must be constantly aware of the value of each and every moment of your life that seem so insignificant that its loss often goes unnoticed.

Regardless of your current age, there is a sense of urgency that should drive you into action now this very moment. For most people who are not acting, they are in a delusion which make them believe that they still have all the time, lots of chances, lots of opportunities they need to succeed since there will be a tomorrow, a next week, a next month, and a next year. But unless you develop a sense of urgency, those brief windows of time will be sadly wasted, as were the weeks and months and years before them. Always remember that there isn't an endless supply of time. The fires of greatness in your heart can be kept aglow only after you develop a sense of urgency and importance for what you do.

The sense of urgency should be to the extent that you feel it is a matter of life and death; and it is actually a matter of life and death, for in growing you are alive and in quitting you are dying in a sense. If you don't believe this, talk to anyone who has lost the sense of urgency of getting things done and has been drifting in complacency, mediocrity and failure. If you are without a sense of urgency in your work, the only place you will experience success will be in your dreams and never in reality. A sense of urgency is that feeling that lets you know yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow never comes. Today is in your hands and you know that shirking today's task will add to wasted yesterdays and postponing today's work will add to tomorrow's burden. The sense of urgency causes you to accomplish what today sets before you. It is that sense of agency that will catapult you to your greatest success.

Your dilemma goes deeper than having a shortage of time, it's basically a problem of priorities. Most people leave undone those things that should be done, while they do things that they shouldn't be doing. Set priorities for your goals. A major part of successful living lies in your ability to put first things first. Most of your major goals are not achieved because you major in minor things. Starting today, start majoring in major things that will get you closer to your objectives with each passing day. Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time, don't serve time, make time serve you.