24 hours a day. That’s all we get, like it or not. It matters not where we live, our socio-economic status, who we know, how old we are, or what our beliefs are.
Each day each and every one of us is given the gift of time. 24 hours to do with as we choose.
24 hours to achieve our dreams.
24 hours to sleep, work, chat, relax, eat, bathe, whatever our hearts desire.
No more, no less.
But with one simple trick we can seemingly double, triple or multiply your time exponentially.
It works just as well for a teacher as it does a business woman.
Kids can use it. Adults already know it.
And yet, so few people choose to do it.
Have you figured it out yet?
The key to increasing your time is through the power of investing.
Let me explain.
We are able to do certain skills in a certain amount of time. Take cooking, it may take us 45 minutes to cook and prepare dinner.
We can’t change the temperature water boils and we can’t skip certain steps in adding ingredients, but what we can do is become a better chef.
A skilled chef will cut faster, make less errors, be able to handle more and finish more quickly.
By investing in him or herself, they saved themselves a few minutes, say 8.
That’s 8 minutes every day. For the rest of your life.
And just how long did it take them to get that good, anywhere between 2000 and 5000 hours.
But let’s do the math – 8 minutes a day x 365 days a year x 40 years = 116,800 hours.
Let’s take another case, a student in Grad School. Normally it takes 2 years to graduate and students spend on average 12 hours a week for class and preparation.
Investment – 1248 hours.
Another student takes a memory course which takes 12 hours, and a speed reading course, another 18 hours.
Then they spend another 2 weeks studying the material.
Investment – 72 hours. And they pass. It’s been done.
There are two ways to invest our time:
- Work hard
- Take advantage of techniques that allow us to improve our skills and accuracy at the same time
I wish more of the people I knew were willing to invest their time to allow them to reap the reward of their efforts for years to come.
But that’s the problem – so many don’t want to. They think it’s a waste of their time.
Personally I think it’s just the opposite.
I read reasonably quickly and can get through 2 to 3 books a week if I want to. But I must admit I have not taken my own advice and signed up for a speed reading course.
As I live in Japan, my geography presents somewhat of a problem but recently I was able to acquire a special speed reading course which I have just started this very moment.
I’m dedicated to finishing the course because I owe it to myself, and to my readers to be the best I can be.
I let myself off the hook for years saying that I was doing enough, and maybe I was. But that was then, now I must push myself to the next level.
It’s time to get serious and invest in my own skills.
I look forward to sharing the results with you.
Adrian Shepherd