(If you have stumbled across this page, you have found me blogging my upcoming book “Getting to DID: How to Get Rid of Your Big But and Live a Life Without Regret.” In last week’s installment, the TRAINER taught Sam to use “YOUR STRENGTHS” if he would turn his COULDAS into CANS. This week, Sam will learn about using his TIME wisely. If you need to catch up on the whole book. You can start at Sam’s Crumbling World and follow the links.)

TIME

“TIME is the reason you cannot do everything. You can probably do a lot more than you realize, but the fact is we only get 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks in a year. Plus, we are all going to die. Whether we like it or not, our TIME is limited and uncertain. That means each day needs to be used to accomplish what really matters.

“Time is like money. You can do four things with it. You can waste it, spend it, invest it or borrow it. We waste TIME when we do useless things that accomplish nothing. We spend it when we do something that provides a benefit now, but that’s it. We invest it when we do what is most important, providing benefit not only for the moment but for time to come. Most of us borrow too much TIME. When we waste TIME, not following through ontoday’s steps to reach the goal, we borrow TIME from the future. Obligating tomorrow to do today’s work. We call this procrastination. Procrastination is the credit card of time. Regrettably, like money, some of us borrow so much time from our future we never catch up.

“The point is we need to use TIME wisely. Benjamin Franklin pointed out that TIME is the stuff our lives are made of. If we’re just killing TIME, we might as well be killing ourselves. You only get to CAN when you invest your TIME wisely.

“Finally, we do have to realize the only time we actually have is today. You, me and everybody we know 

only lives one day at a time. Some folks use their one day at a time positively. Some don’t. Have you ever caught yourself saying you were going to start a diet tomorrow so just for today, you are going to have that last hurrah and pig out one final time.”

Sam’s face brightened a few shades of pink. “Yeah, actually come to think about it. I’ve done that almost every week since I lost my job.”

“You see, Sam,” the TRAINER went on, “that’s living your one day at a time in a negative way. You are destroying your health one day at a time. But you can reverse that. Instead of thinking, ‘I have to eat healthy for the rest of my life,’ think, ‘Just for today, I’m going to eat healthy. Tomorrow is a different story, but today, I’ll eat healthy.’ You obviously won’t make any major health strides in just one day. But when you start living one day at a time in a healthy way, you’ll be amazed at the results down the road. What’s even better is when you have bad days, you don’t have to beat yourself up. Instead of lapsing because you had a bad day yesterday, just remember that day is already gone. Who knows what you may do tomorrow, but for today, for the time you have right now, you will make a healthy choice.”

The TRAINER fell silent for a moment and then said, “Sam, that’s powerful stuff I just shared with you and it’s not just about your health. It’s about your work, your dreams, your family, your relationship with your wife and kids. While you certainly think about and plan for the NEXT STEP you have to live in the only time you’ve got—today.”

Sam was wide-eyed, thinking about the number of times he had goofed off “just for today” or put off “just for today.” He thought about all the days he hadn’t spent time with his kids and all the conversations he never had with his wife. “That is powerful,” he finally said. “Thank you.”

“Here you go,” the TRAINER said, “Check out this card.”

(Come back next Thursday as the TRAINER teaches Sam about HONESTY and INSIGHT.)