A Conversation That Helped Me Understand the Value of Time

Sometimes, a small conversion may lead to something huge that changes your perspective towards life. The same thing happened to me recently when I talked with my friend. I gained a new understanding of the value of time and realized the importance of time management in our life.

I was on the call discussing some work with my friend, and as soon as we finished, he thanked me and expressed his gratitude towards me. I told him there was no need to be formal, as it was just part of the work. But he insisted that he was indeed grateful and explained to me that I had given him a portion of my lifetime doing this work and talking to him. I was surprised by such an answer.

He further explained to me that whenever you talk with someone or do some work, you are giving away a part of your precious lifetime; you are giving away a portion of your life that you will never get back. And then, we continued to do this conversation and gave it a deep thought.

We thought about how finite our time on this planet is. We talked about the impermanent nature of our life. We discussed that there is nothing permanent and we are all mortal beings. We continued to discuss it further and estimated our average life span and the number of months, weeks, hours, etc., we got to live here.

It led us to something very interesting. We concluded that time is the currency of life, and it can only be spent and can never be earned. We need to use our time wisely, as we use our money for our needs. We must be cautious where we spend our time, as we give away a part of our life.

We generally say we are busy with something, but we must check and observe what we are busy at. We need to ask ourselves, Is it really important? Is it worth my valuable time? Does it make sense in the long run? Asking these questions regularly will help you keep on track and guard your time well.

It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about? — Henry David Thoreau

We need to understand the value of time and carefully examine where we spend it. We need to define our priorities in life and stop wasting time on trivial things that are not important and those that do not make any sense in the long run. We should stop wasting time worrying about the petty things that will be of no value five years from now.

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. — Michael Altshuler

We can earn more money by spending our time, but we can never get back the time by spending our money. So, be wise about wherever you are using your time. As you read this article, you have spent a few minutes of your lifetime, and I hope you have learned an important lesson here. Always be careful where you use your priceless time. Your time on this planet is limited. Make every moment count.