I always try to be intentional about how I use my time. However, writing this article made me realize and appreciate the importance of time even more.
Seeing how many of the important figures in the world, such as John F. Kennedy, Buddha, and many more, appreciate time and focus on the importance of using it correctly, made me just more mindful of how I spend my time.
That’s why I wrote this article—to help you become more mindful of your time too!
1. “We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.” -John F. Kennedy
People who make a big impact in life always value their time. Time is a powerful tool like a hammer, and if used in the correct way, you can build a balanced life and achieve your goals and hopes.
However, it can also be used passively, like a couch, to be lazy. The choice is ours as to how we want to use the time we have on earth. Wasting time on mindless activities is an option, and using your time as an effective tool to provide value for yourself and your life is also another option.
2. “ The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha
Most people take their time for granted, even though every one of us has a limited time on earth. Life is finite, so stop wasting time.
When we think we have an abundance of time, we tend to put our most important dreams away. After all, we have plenty of time, don’t we? We have a limited time in life, so use it and live your life to the fullest.
3. “ The key is in not spending time, but in investing it “ – Stephen R. Covey
Spending time is referring to mindlessly using the time you have in activities that do not help you improve your well-being or help you get closer to your goals.
Some well-known activities that steal your time with no contribution to your well-being are excessive TV watching, consuming content pointlessly on social media, and so on. Stop spending your time and start investing it. What he means by investing is to be intentional with how you want to use your time.
How investing your time works is by using your time for tasks and activities that will give you the highest return. Using the 80/20 rule is a way to make sure you are spending your most precious resource (time) with the best possible return.
4. “ There’s no good way to waste your time. Wasting time is just wasting time.” – Helen Mirren
The human mind tends to be bored quickly, especially in today’s era when the average attention of people is now 8 seconds. This is extremely low; a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds! .
Our time on earth is limited, so we waste time under so many different umbrellas and excuses. Think of when you scroll social media at different intervals all day; all those little moments contribute to so much time wasted at the end of the month or the end of the year.
Stop wasting time, and focus on the value an activity can bring before you start it.
5. “ Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.” – Dale Carnegie
This quote reminds us of the importance of focusing on the present. Time is something we can spend, but something we do not own. So focusing on today is the best thing we can do. Worrying about what tomorrow will bring or regrettably remembering the past has no benefit.
6. “ Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.” – Harvey Mackay
This is one of the quotes that makes me think long and hard. Even though time itself does not cost money, we cannot buy more time. Its value is huge and priceless.
Therefore, we should be mindful of our time. Stop wasting time on activities that have no value. Use the time you have now, as if it is lost, you cannot get it back anymore.
7. “ There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.” – Michelangelo
Time is a resource that is available to all of us, but at the same time, it is limited, and once it passes, we cannot get it back. Because of the finite state of time itself, it will cost us the greatest harm when it is wasted.
Each moment we waste is a possible opportunity for learning, growing, and adding value to our well-being. The important thing is that we need to stop wasting this finite resource, or we will have regrets in the future.
Be mindful of how you spend your time. On the other hand, please don’t feel guilty about taking breaks. Yes, productivity is important, but having some time allocated for breaks is important for our mental health.
8. “ ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. “ – Timothy Ferriss
We all have dreams, goals, and hopes. But often, when we are asked about them, we reply, “Someday I will start it, but not today!”. Now is all you have; someday is not guaranteed; starting today, even with the smallest steps, is better than doing nothing.
This is what Timothy Ferris is trying to help us recognize. Someday is just like a silent disease that will weaken our body and destroy our health, but in this case, destroy our dreams and hopes.
Procrastination will destroy our dreams and hopes. Stop wasting time waiting for the perfect moment, as there is none, and focus on taking action.
9. “ Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.” – Christopher Parker
When we use a credit card, we do not need to worry about the immediate cost of whatever we buy. We are enjoying our lives; we buy more and more. But at the end, there is still a bill that has been accumulating.
In the end, we still have to face the complications of our bad spending habits. Time is a precious resource. When we procrastinate, we tend to spend our current time on activities that have no value to us.
When we procrastinate, it feels good because we are avoiding the tasks that put us in the discomfort zone. While those tasks require effort and make us feel uncomfortable, they hold value for our goals and hopes.
At the end, if we do not act and let procrastination win, we will face the consequences of this, just like when we use credit cards in the wrong way.
You might find yourself missing important deadlines, feeling overwhelmed, and facing so much stress. Stop wasting your time. Focus on using your time wisely.
10. “ Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” – Art Buchwald
Life is always alternating; some moments are filled with joy, and other moments feel like the world is ending. While the time we have now might be filled with joy or sadness, now is truly all we have.
Embracing the present moment with all its ups and downs, focusing on making the most of what we have and of what we are in control. Now is all we have; now is all we can control. Let’s live in the moment and make the most of it.
11.” I have so much that I want to do. I hate wasting time.” – Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking had so many areas he wanted to explore to understand the universe. His famous quote shows just that.
Time is limited; wasting time is just going to make you abandon all the tasks and opportunities you could have used that time for. Stephen Hawking hated wasting time because of how many things and areas he could explore, but time is limited. Stop wasting your time on mindless activities.
Stop killing your time. Use it to make your life better and to take small steps towards what you want to be in life. The more time and effort you put into achieving your goals, the closer you get to achieving them.
12. “Time is what we want most but what we use worst.” – William Penn
The number of times I said, “Oh, only if I had more time,” is countless. We, as humans, inherently desire to have more time to spend. However, when we have the time, we tend to spend it poorly.
Tell me how many times you procrastinated to do a task that might take you only 5 hours to complete. How many times did you procrastinate as a student to complete your assignment? We have the tendency to waste time.
Unless you are intentional about how you want to spend the moments you have on this earth, you will waste time on aimless activities. Whenever you decide to kill time with activities that don’t add any value to your life, remember how scarce time is.
13. “ The past always looks better than it was. It’s only pleasant because it isn’t here.” – Finley Peter Dunne
It’s in human nature that we look at the past and think that it was better. The reason behind this is our nature to forget the details of negative experiences. In psychology, the brain wants to focus on positive memories and tends to forget about the negative aspects of the memories to maintain a sense of well-being.
Your present, even with all its flaws, is all you have. Your present now will be your past in the near future. Your tendency to remember the past as being better is only an illusion in your mind. Focus on improving your present, spending the time you have now on what adds value to yourself and your life.
14. “Your success will be in direct proportion to how you spend your ‘free’ time.” – Mike Dunlap
Your time outside your working hours is your free time; how do you spend it? Of course, there are important tasks that you need to do to maintain your life that take a portion of that time. But let’s talk about time outside of that. How do you spend it?
Mike Dunlap is emphasizing that if you want success in life, if you want growth and a better life, this will depend on how you spend the time you consider free time. The more you invest in yourself and in your future self, the better your odds will be of achieving your goals in life and improving your life and well-being.
You are in control of your own time and how you want to spend it. Say no to wasting your time. Say yes to investing this time in improving your life.
15. “When you kill time, you kill your opportunities for success. “ – Denis Waitley
Every minute of your life counts. Wasting time, even though it is an easy option, is not the wisest option. Depending on what you want from your life, whenever you choose to kill time, you are choosing to reduce your chances of achieving what you want in life. Wasting time is never the wisest option.
You know how many days we live? Assuming an average life expectancy of 80 years, we live for around 29200 days. Each day that passes is a day that you will not get back. Stop wasting time and use it to make your life better!
16. “ No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as downtime. All you got is a lifetime. Go.” – Henry Rollins
This quote is a reminder that what we consider free time or spare time is actually part of your lifetime. It’s a reminder that we need to be intentional about how we spend this precious resource. It’s a reminder that life is finite.
Everyone of us will live for a finite number of years, whether it’s 70 years, 90 years, or 100 years. There will come a time when all this ends. Wasting your time is wasting your life. Stop wasting your finite moment on what adds no value or whatsoever to your life.
17. “Stop and take your time to notice things and make those things you notice matter.” – Cecelia Ahern
In this modern world, especially, we find ourselves rushing through life. It will be beneficial to take a moment to notice your surroundings. It will be beneficial to take a moment and slow things down.
Nature has so much to offer us. Whenever I actually take the time to notice all the little details about how beautiful and calming it is to look at a tree,
Or when I go to the beach and start observing the calming waves of the sea. It just puts your inner self at peace. Sometimes that peace can actually help you process what’s happening in your life.
18. “Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.” -Alan Lakein
It is an interesting analogy to promote the importance of not wasting our time. When we perceive that time equals life, we can therefore see that what we are losing when we waste time is not just that hour or that day, but our life.
The opposite stands right too; if we work to use the time we have and master how we use our time, it will ultimately lead to mastering our life and adding value to it.
19. ” The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler
Seconds will pass, minutes will pass, hours will pass, days will pass, and years will pass. Time is always moving, and we cannot stop it from passing. However, we can control how we use the minutes, the hours, and the days we have.
We are the pilots of our own lives; unless you intentionally choose how you want to spend the time you have on earth, you will be flying your plane on autopilot. Remember that you are the pilot of your own time, so be mindful of how you use your time.
20. “ Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.” – Carl Sandburg
This is a great metaphor from Carl Sandburg that helps us understand the value of time. We value money, we want money, and we seek to get more money. It is in our instincts to want more money, because more money means more security for our lives.
Time is actually the only coin we have in our lives. Look at all the social media companies. What they want is the most important coin of people, their time. They want us to spend more time on their apps.
They designed the apps to be as stimulating and rewarding as possible for our brains, so we would want to spend more time on them. Time is the only valuation currency we actually have. A currency that, once we spend it, we cannot get back.
21. “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” – Stephen R. Covey
I don’t know what you want from life. You are the only person who knows what you want from your life. How you use time should depend on your goals. Think about your typical day. Are you doing anything that can bring you closer to your goals?
In this era of time, everything wants our attention and wants to steal some portion of our time. Be intentional about how you want to use your time. Don’t just spend it on aimless activities or watching short videos.
Invest the time you have to add value to your life, to get closer to your goals, to improve your skills, and to have valuable relationships with your loved ones.
Final Words
In the end, the most important value you can get from this article is that time is important. Time is your most valuable currency. Be mindful of how you use it. Seconds will pass, minutes will pass, and years will pass. Stop wasting the valuable moments you have. Start using them to get closer to your goals. As Carl Sandburg said, Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.