Author’s Note: If you find this post helpful others will too.  Please use the Facebook &/or Twitter buttons to share! Thank you.

What’s the most precious thing in your life?

It’s okay – the question isn’t rhetorical and I’m going to answer it for you.

I’d put health pretty close to the top of that list. There’s not much you can enjoy without that. But right at the very peak I’d put time.

Time – the one thing you can’t get back. Your health you can keep going for quite a while if you take a bit of care and the odd piece of medical advice. (Some of it’s very odd, let’s face it!) But you can’t get an extra day or even a moment.

In this post, I’m going to set out three time management key points.

I know, I know. There is a plethora of ideas reckoned to prolong life, but how do we know that isn’t just the same as “not shortening” life? Do you see what I mean? I mean, suppose you’re born with 27,000 days ahead of you? (That’s about 74 years to save you reaching for your calculator). And then you spend a couple of decades doing drugs and drink and living on junk. You’re shortening the odds of seeing out your twenty seven thousand I reckon. But, with reasonable care, you’d make your allotted span … but no more. See what I mean?

I could be wrong. Nobody really knows. There are those who believe we could live two hundred years. (Goodness – when will they let us retire?)

This is all pure conjecture, but what’s certain is that our time here on Earth has a limit. I don’t want to sound maudlin, but it’s a fact and facing it isn’t meant to make you sad. It’s intended to motivate you to get on with your life!

Your management of time, and especially your time management objectives will shape your destiny!

Here are my top tips for making the most of your time:

1. Watch your language! Stop saying, “I don’t have time,” or phrases disguised to mean the same thing, like, “I’m really busy at the moment.” Instead, check in with yourself and if the offer feels good say,”I’m going to find a way to make time for that.” If you don’t fancy it, say, “Sorry, that isn’t a way I choose to spend my time.”

The key is to own it – you are making a choice about how you spend time. And if it’s your job you don’t want to be spending it on, then start looking for an alternative way to generate income. Forty hours a week for forty years doing something you wish you didn’t is unbelievably expensive!

2. By the same token, take on board that you can’t waste time, you can only spend it. If you regularly call something “a waste of time” ask yourself if you enjoy doing it.

I know people who love their computer games and get truly buzzed from playing them. Others are doing the same thing because they say they’re bored and can’t think of anything else to do. Same activity.

The first group aren’t wasting time – they’re creating happy experiences and good memories. The second group are making a choice not to use their unlimited powers of creativity to think of some other way to live – that’s a choice. No one forced them to do that.

3. Live by a “no regrets” philosophy. When your life is nearing its end, will you look back and say, “Wow! I had a great adventure. I made some boo-boos and I went down some blind alleys, but boy, I loved every minute of it!” Or will your epitaph be, “I wish I’d taken the chances when I had them”?

With these tips as your guideposts you stand a better chance of living every day to the max. Love your life, it’s all you’ve got.

Sometimes it’s very helpful to have some good tools and great guidance at your fingertips, and in terms of getting more from your time, I recommend you check out “The Expert’s Guide To Managing Your Time” – click here for details.

(Full disclosure: the author stands to gain a commission from any purchase made via this link. Proceeds help to fund this blog)

Do you have any time management tips you’re willing to share? Put them in the comments box below…!