How Will You Spend Your 1/2 Million Minutes?

Don’t let them become a billboard on your highway.

As of today, I’ve spent more than 522,270 minutes engaged in doing something this past year. Put into seconds, that’s more 31,000,000 seconds, the equivalent of 363 days.

31,000,000 is a big number. One would think it would feel like a long time. Funny thing is, all that time went by rather quickly.

I know I can account for the 31,000,000 seconds, because I’m still here. So I’ve obviously lived them all, notwithstanding those I slept through.

But even if you (optimistically) cut out a third of them for sleep, you’re still left with more than 348,000 minutes, or close to 21,000,000 seconds. Still, a lot of time to invest.

There are many memorable quotes regarding the passing of time:

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.” – William Shakespeare

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” – Carl Sandburg

I suppose I could print these out and paste them on my bathroom mirror so I see them and attempt to live by them each day. That being said, I’m sure at some point, they’ll become like those billboards we at first see and then ultimately don’t see, as we drive along well-traveled roads.

They’re there, but then are not there. At one point, noticed, but now just part of the backdrop, the scenery.

So notwithstanding my making a meaningful commitment about living life fully, investing my time wisely, etc. throughout next year, here’s to taking a few minutes now, a few out of the 525,600 that I’ll have had this year, to think about how I’ll spend the half million I expect and hope to have next year.

Best wishes to you for memorable and meaningful times during the holidays and throughout the new year.