“What is time”? An interesting question our entrepreneur nephew posed to me one day. To me, it is a very easy question to answer because the answer is undeniably conspicuous, prevalent and tangible. For instance, whatever form, be it a computer or book we are using to read this article came out of somebody's time and energy vested, in fact, everything around us not made by nature came out of someones mind. The same rules apply in the world of business. Time, and the effective use of it is a science. If we do not learn the fundamentals and apply them with utmost effectiveness, we shall then precede to fall behind, and the company will eventually fail. Why then, cannot we apply these same rules to our personal lives? The answer is, of course we can, and like everything else in life, we just have to learn how to. We can break it down into three easy aspects, the past, the present, and the future, and with a little practice, the latter two can be managed quite well.

The time spent on reading this very word is here in the now. When are not thinking of anything or worrying about something, when we focus, we are very much here. Looking around us and seeing what is in front of us, without judging or trying to form some kind of opinion of it, is being here, logic would dictate this as so. But the scant second we lose our focus and let our minds wander, we then drift off into some imaginary world, our bodies still here, but our minds elsewhere. The micro-second it took to read the word mentioned earlier has disappeared, it shall now reside forever in the past, however, it has a tendency to come back, when we let it. The moment we think of something other than the present, we may start worrying about the now fictitious past, or the yet unknown future. It is said a person who is not in control of his or her mind is not only a danger to themselves, but to the ones around them as well. When we recognize the futility and danger of this behavior, we can then move to correct this dysfunction, and be more effective in the here and now. Don't like the past?, or do we have regrets? one way to change the past is to live well in the present, and a new past shall soon be evident.

Time, our most valuable asset in another one of nature's countless dichotomies, and astonishingly contradictory; whilst we think we may have it, we really don't. It runs by us fleetingly like the proverbial sand in the hour glass, soon to be over. Does it make sense then not to waste the short amount of time allocated to us? For every moment we let the mind wander, we throw it away, never to be taken back. When we are in the present we are truly here, functioning fully with an uninterrupted stream of data flowing into our operating system. Being here in the moment not only increases our awareness of our surroundings, but of the opportunities laying therein too. Instead of worrying about the non-existent, we can now see where we would like to go in life, how to help not just ourselves, but how to help each other in our village. When we start business in order to fill a need, passive income is created.

Most of us know which tasks we will be performing tomorrow morning, the bed we will leave and the routine of our prospective day ahead. This foresight can be applied to not just the next day, but the week after, next month and so on, and it is with this prudence we can create the future of our choice. With our faculties in somewhat control we can now focus on what condition our next moment will be with clarity and a clear perception of the road ahead. Rational decisions can be made regarding our personal, or business life. In the business world, if the CEO of a company relayed to the shareholders the wish or a hope of a profitable quarter, he would be laughed out of his position. The successful CEO is a great time manager, he organizes other professionals' time in such a way as to maximize and reap benefits from it, multiple projects simultaneously, a polychronic living. Albert Einstein's theory of relativity hinted that time is malleable, and a good time manager will know this. Similarly, we can apply these techniques to our selves and the road we would choose to travel upon, the first step being intention, the second, awareness of the precious time.

There is not a wish nor a hope in business, we must know. We look to the results desired and we collectively work on this; similar to visualizing on a story board we see pictures for tomorrow, the next week, and as we get better at this for the rest our lives. Beware of the useless thinking and digressing from our present which takes us into sleep mode, depriving us from living to our fullest extent, and just as importantly, stopping us from creating the future. We can create any future we can envision, the ancient words “Do as thy will” attest to this fact. It takes willpower, determination, and motivation, but the first step is living here in the now. Let us make use of the short amount of time allocated to us in the most maximum way possible, because soon it will run out, and to answer the aforementioned entrepreneur's question; “ Time, is what we make of it.” ~Timothy Clacton