{"id":6544,"date":"2015-06-01T14:14:32","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T21:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/http:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/?p=6544"},"modified":"2015-06-01T14:14:32","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T21:14:32","slug":"dont-waste-your-time-its-precious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/dont-waste-your-time-its-precious\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Waste Your Time (It’s Precious)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Time-1024x861\"<\/a>Please, don’t waste my time! If you do, don’t expect me to hang out for very long with you. And don’t expect me to spend time with you in the future.<\/p>\n

I confess, I discriminate against certain people. I don\u2019t hate these people; most are quite decent and likable. Though I do avoid them as much as possible. And when I meet these people, I\u2019m not mean to them. But I do plan my exit as soon as I can (without appearing to be a complete jerk).<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m not a racist, sexist, or ageist. Rather, I\u2019m a \u2018timeist.\u2019 What, you may wonder, is a timeist? Okay, I made the term up, but it has real meaning to me. A timeist is someone who discriminates against others who waste their time. And I really hate it when people waste my time!<\/p>\n

As I have moved well into middle age, I hoard my time like some misers\u00a0hoard their money and animals hoard their food. Time has become truly precious to me and any second not spent with people or activities I care about feels like time stolen from me with no chance of return.<\/p>\n

Many might argue that money is our most valuable resource because it enables us to survive. I would suggest otherwise because most of us can almost always make more money. But time is an entirely non-renewable resource; once time passes, it is gone forever. No matter how much we wish, we simply can\u2019t get more time.<\/p>\n

Time also doesn\u2019t discriminate. Whether you are rich or poor, the clock is ticking and more time can\u2019t be bought. However, I admit that affluence may improve how that time is spent or how long one\u2019s time on Earth is (think life expectancies and medical care).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure this relationship I have with time is a result of my being on the backside of my life with fewer days ahead of me than behind. Like most people, when I was young, I thought I was immortal (not to mention invulnerable). So, I wasted my time with people who didn\u2019t have any real value to me and engaged in activities that didn\u2019t do much for my life in the grand scheme of things.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, this wasted time was due partly to the fact that, when you\u2019re young, you don\u2019t necessarily know what you value or what will bring benefit to you long term. But early in your life, much like having a lot of money in the bank, it doesn\u2019t seem to matter because you, at that point, have plenty of time to spend.<\/p>\n

Yet, once you reach a certain age and look back on your life, you ponder (and perhaps regret) the immense opportunity costs of your past relationships and things you did. But, as we so painfully learn, not only is time nonrenewable, it is also not reversible. Such, as they say, is life.<\/p>\n

I realize that being a timeist doesn\u2019t make me the most popular guy in the room. Timeism can cause me real impatience. For example, if I\u2019m in a meeting going nowhere (or at least in a direction that doesn\u2019t interest me), I can abruptly intervene and attempt to get the meeting back on track. Or, if I meet someone who I don\u2019t find interesting or worthy of my time, I can, rather suddenly, end the conversation and move on.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, I do everything I can to not come across as some sort of snob, but I admit that I might be perceived as a bit curt and, okay, snobbish. But I\u2019m willing to accept the blowback because, well, time is a fleeting and I have better things to do with my time.<\/p>\n

I also recognize that, in making judgments about others\u2019 time-worthiness, I might judge unwisely and miss out on an experience that might literally change my life. For example, that really boring guy I just ran away from at a cocktail party might want to hire me or triggers an idea that I want to write about or introduces me to someone who is worth spending time with. Of course, I would never know what I had missed out on, so at least I wouldn\u2019t kick myself for the lost opportunity.<\/p>\n

But, in every experience or encounter, we implicitly or explicitly conduct a risk\/reward analysis of time-worthiness and then act accordingly. Perhaps it\u2019s just me, but I would rather cut my losses too early and take the chance of a missed opportunity than stay too long and burn through even more time that I will no longer have.<\/p>\n

I accept that every moment can\u2019t be lived fully and every second can\u2019t be savored; that\u2019s just not realistic and would probably be exhausting. We waste time waiting in line at the grocery store. We sit in traffic. And, yes, we sometimes endure people and activities that don\u2019t interest us because it is the polite or compassionate thing to do (or your spouse will be really mad at you if you don\u2019t). As with most things in life, time isn\u2019t an either-or proposition, but rather a matter of degree. If I can say that I have spent most of time wisely, I figure I\u2019m winning this game called life.<\/p>\n

Given that my time is no more special than yours, I would recommend that you too join the ranks of timeist. Though it\u2019s not something to parade around about, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything to be ashamed about either.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s what I recommend to you if you choose to release your inner timeist:<\/p>\n