Clock Watching with Jonathan Acott
This issue’s guest editor Jonathan Acott on why appreciating the true
value of your time could be the best resolution you make this year.
Time isn’t money. You can’t make more, you can’t spend less, you can’t save it or put it away for a rainy day. Yet, we all persist in wasting our most precious resource.
We accept our relationship with time in different ways, demonstrated by the plethora of time-based expressions that litter our language: time flies when you’re having fun; only time will tell; waste of time; where has the time gone?
The reality is that because of its permanence in our lives, we too often consider it as something of no value – “oh I’m just killing time”. However, it has the most value of anything you’ll ever possess. It’s your life; every minute is, by its very definition, a proportion of the time you will be alive.
It is a finite resource that you can spend in any way you want, that part is up to you – but as a six-time cancer survivor, I am telling you that there’s nothing like knowing there will be an end to your resources to make you mindful of how you spend it. I’ve heard the words “you have cancer”, or a variation on a theme six times.
I’ve had countless surgeries and months of chemotherapy; I know that cancer will probably rob me of time that I should have with my family.
As a result of this, I know exactly what my time is worth. I don’t mean in a monetary sense, but rather if you want me to give up some of my time, time that I could’ve spent on something else, then you can guarantee that exchange will benefit me. I’m not wasting any of my resources on that pointlessness.
This acute appreciation of the value of my time makes me impatient of people who dither and delay. It makes me angry when someone else or an organisation’s inefficiency wastes my time. I’m looking at you South Western Railway, how dare you be so bad at your job that you rob me of my precious time. That’s not a question by the way, it’s a statement of fact.
So, as you head into 2020 maybe you’ll keep up with your resolutions, maybe you won’t. Regardless, take it from me that the best investment you can make for yourself is to know the value of your time.
If you would like to talk to Jonathan about personal coaching, business coaching or delivering a motivational talk then please get in contact either on email: Jonathan.acott@gmail.com or on twitter or instagram: @sfsurvivors