Time: Making the Most of Your Life

As I write to you, I am just a few weeks away from another major milestone in my life. I am talking about another birthday. This year has brought tremendous growth, development, and maturity in my life. I have been forced all the way out of my comfort zone and I am enjoying the change that is taking place in me. This time of the year is always a time of reflection for me. I start to look back on the last year of my life, the lessons I have learned, and how I have grown and evolved. Most importantly, the thing that keeps coming to my mind this year is the value of time. I realize that we are all in a race against the clock. I have resolved to make the most of my life and to savor every moment. I hope these insights will help you treasure your life and seize every moment!

1. You cannot afford to keep living in the prison of your past. While some people can only speak from theory, I can speak to this from experience. I spent a lot of time looking back in the rearview mirror when I should have been looking forward to the future and what is possible for my life. However, I finally reached a point where I realized that the past is called the past for a reason. If I continued to look back, I would never know what it was like to move forward with my life or experience true freedom. Furthermore, I discovered that the past is a prison that wants to hold you captive and hijack change in your life. Your past has nothing of value to offer you. The only thing that the past can offer you is a reference point. However, the past does not hold the power to define what is possible for your life. So stop living in the past and choose to start living in the present and embrace what is possible for your life.
2. Your experiences are designed to serve as a teacher. As you mature, you realize that your experiences are important. In fact, without your experiences, you would not be who you are today. If you take away your experiences, you take away the essence of who you are as an individual. Therefore, it is important for you to understand that your experiences serve as a teacher. Much of the wisdom that has come from my life has been the result of my experiences. One of the most troubling things for me is when I see a person that is not learning from their experiences. Any experience that we do not learn from we are bound to repeat. It is so important that you learn the lessons that life is trying to teach you. Do not waste a lifetime repeating cycles when you could be realizing change in your life. Every experience should teach you something that you can apply to your life to become a better version of yourself. Do not waste your experiences. Wasted experiences ultimately result in a wasted existence. Experiences can be the catalyst to evolution.
3. Learn the power of living in the moment. This year has brought tremendous growth, development, and evolution in my life. However, all of this is a result of courage. I set some big goals for myself this year and these goals have stretched me in ways that I have never been stretched before. I have been forced out of my comfort zone. More importantly, I have been challenged to face fears and confront self-limiting beliefs and perceptions. The most important lesson that this season of my life has been teaching me is the importance of not delaying things that I have the opportunity to do today. In other words, I have been challenged to live in the now and stop putting everything off in the future. At the end of the day, all we have is the present moment. Tomorrow is not promised. If you keep putting off your dreams, you are going to step into tomorrow with disappointment and deferred hope. It’s time for you to start owning the present and having the courage to go after the life that you want. In reality, the only thing that is holding you back from a greater life is your faulty belief system. The possibilities of your life are limitless!
4. Use time to serve your purpose. As I prepare to celebrate another birthday, the lesson that resonates with me the strongest is the lesson of purpose. As a revolutionary thinker and leader, I have devoted my life to empowering individuals to fulfill purpose and maximize their greatest potential. If you have followed my life and work, then you know that my purpose and mission consume me. However, this year I believe that the significance of time and the brevity of life has taken on a different meaning for me. I find myself being much more calculated with where I invest my time and how I use my moments. The older I get the more I realize that I only want to spend time on my most important priorities and cultivating the most meaningful relationships in my life. Honestly, we cannot afford to waste time. Time should be serving your purpose and empower you to accomplish your assignment. How are you using the moments of your life? What contribution will you make to the world? How will you impact your generation? We cannot turn back the hands of time; however, we can make the most of the moments of our lives. We can honor our potential, live on purpose and make a difference in our lifetime. Most of all, we can live out our mission and values and empower others to own their greatness.