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Changing Perspectives
Rutendo Gwatidzo
MARCH 2022 is just a day away, first it was January and now February is gone. The question I have for you is: What are you doing? Time does not wait for anyone and once time is gone, it will never come back to you.
Since time immemorial, I have never seen time giving anyone second chances, it is merciless. For this reason, we ought to maximise time to the best of our ability in order to create the best value out of it. January and February 2022 will never come back.
The next question I have for you is: What have you done in these past two months? Can you say that you utilised time in a way that you are proud of, that gives you a smile and brings you fulfilment?
Many times many people feel like time is not enough but if they take time to analyse how they spend time, they will probably realise that it is a good deal of time that they put to waste. The only thing on earth that we all have an equal amount of is time.
How come in the same 24 hours per day, others get to accomplish fulfilling things and others accomplish things that will bring regrets. What are you doing with your 24 hours that are given to you each brand new day? The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Many of us have undoubtedly made the statement “I don’t feel like it.” Can you trust those feelings? Be careful, you might take forever not feeling like it.
Do something!
Get up now and get started, do something. You might start from where you do not like, but with determination, you will end up where you want. Many people want time more than anything yet they waste it more than anything. Commit your goals to paper and allocate time accordingly. Remember every goal should be SMART: simple, measurable, attainable, reviewable and time bound. With no written goals, you tend to suffer lack of time.
Setting goals can sound intimidating. Others think that it is companies only that should set goals yet every individual should have goals. This applies to both parents and children. With no goals, you tend to suffer lack of time. Change starts when you take the first step. Start with one goal and it will become easy to set the rest of the goals.
Be in control!
Time flies but always remember that you are the pilot. The only most important thing more than time is what you spend it on. What are you doing and how are you doing it? You cannot save time; you can only use it wisely. Do not wait for time to change things, the fact is, you have to change the things yourself to enjoy the time.
The best gift you can give yourself is to spend time on things that are right. In as much as there is time for everything, you have to make everything suitable for time. Be in control of time through planning. I have come across many people who just wake up and wait for time to spend their day instead of them planning on how to spend their time.
Time management is a skill that is important for everyone who desires to live a happy and successful life. It doesn’t matter if things do not go your way, what matters is that you keep planning and realigning your time accordingly. The more you control the past is the more you control the future and the more you control the present is the more you control the past.
For instance, instead of spending the present moment crying over what hurt you ten years ago, spend it planning on how to avoid a similar misfortune and the future will be better.
Do not spend too much time just thinking, act because if you spend too much time thinking only, you might never get to do anything.
Take note, you cannot save time, what you can only do is spend it.
As such, spend it on things that bring you value. Value does not come through material things only; it comes in so many different ways. If you are not yet employed by someone, I suggest that you employ yourself and get busy doing that which you do best to transform somebody’s life.
For instance, you can do some charity work and in the process of doing so, you never know the doors that might open. Do you know that the person whose life you transform today may be the same person who will also transform yours tomorrow?
Change your perspective, let’s go!
As we enter into March, it is never too late to begin to utilise time wisely. What is it that you want to be? Where do you aim to reach and what are you doing about it? Train your eyes to see what is good. Train your eyes to see opportunities. Remove your focus from challenges and problems only. Whenever you see problems especially those that nag you again and again, know that the solution lies within you or around you.
Do not wait for the right time because it might never arrive, rather, make the time right and work towards bringing solutions to the challenges around you. Let us get practical a little bit. You might be seated at home waiting to find a job. It has probably been years since you graduated and nothing has materialised.
You probably stay in a high density area and it has been like a year since refuse collection took place. As such, people started throwing refuse everywhere, especially the street corners. Instead of playing victim seating throughout the day, the week, the month or all-year round, how about employing yourself and start picking the refuse even using a wheel barrow and find one place that you can dump it and destroy it.
In doing so, you can charge those willing and you get income. Also in the process of doing so, someone may get to see your hard work and determination and can then offer you a better job. How about offering services to those neighbours that you know are in need and can afford to give you a token of appreciation.
You may look at cleaning their cars, cleaning their house walls and windows, cleaning their yards and gardens. These are just a few examples but if you look around you will see the kind of opportunities that I am talking about. Make yourself useful without having to wait for someone to make you useful. Good life does not come on a silver platter, you have to fight for it and fighting is the bridge that separates success and failure.
However, it is not a matter of fighting anyhow, you need to fight strategically and you need to employ winning strategies. Just that sometimes, the winning strategies of the moment might sound humiliating and this is where we need to know what is important. You need to choose wisely between displaying pride that leads to your further downfall or taking on the seemingly humiliating acts that will raise you from where you are.
The choice is yours. Remember the clock is ticking and it is never going to stop to give you a full month or a full year to decide. Do not allow the month of March to pass by again without effectively utilising time. Procrastination is the thief of time, come on now, let’s get dirty and let’s get moving for the betterment of our lives.
Do not get stuck in the mentality of wanting people to feel sorry for you. If sorry was good enough, your life would have reached where you want by now. Be challenged to make your time useful wherever you are. Be encouraged to start doing something useful now if you had not yet started. Be inspired to make the difference and yes you can.
Rutendo Gwatidzo is an entrepreneur into corporate wear and interior designs. She is also an author, speaker, HR consultant and team builder. She’s very vocal and relentless in inspiring hope to the underprivileged to rise from setbacks and to continue moving forward. Her strategic strengths come from the ability to see things differently to make a difference. Contact detail — 0714575805/ [email protected]/ Rutendo Gwatidzo official fb public page.
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