Live A Happier Life: Make the most of your time.

There are countless articles about how people who value time over money are happier. While money helps provide for our basic needs and wants, time is what is required to truly enjoy those things.

At a dinner party, an elderly man asked the group “What is the most important resource in life?” He received answers such as money, happiness, health, family and friends, and security. But his face lit up when someone said “time” and he explained how that was the real answer. “Without time we have nothing. Think about that – if we do not have time, we are not here to spend our money, engage in our happiness, enjoy our health, spend time with the people we love, or feel secure. When we have no time, we have nothing.”

While we all have 24 hours in a day, what we do with those hours is up to each of us. There are several daily tasks which can require a lot of time, such as sorting through mail and email, paying bills, and organizing documents. And, of course, there are things we do that eat up our time and may not be very productive such as watching television, surfing on the Internet, and playing games.

To make the most of your time, we have compiled the top five recommendations for adding more time to your day:

• Make a list of things to do, prioritize them, and check them off one by one.
• Get more sleep and rest. It may seem counter-productive, but when you are well-rested you are more capable of getting things done efficiently.
• Decide what you want or need to do and just do it. Don’t waste time over-thinking things.
• Clear out the clutter. When your home, office, and car are orderly, it gives you more time that is stress-less, and keeps you from wasting time looking for things like your glasses or your keys.
• Delegate. There are people available who will clean your house, pay your bills, cut the grass, and even sort through your mail. Let someone else handle these things so that you can spend time doing what you love.

Simplifying your life by valuing your time can be very rewarding. In addition to these recommendations, you may want to add some easy changes such as answer the phone less, turn off the TV and computer, learn to say “no,” and get rid of things you don’t need.

Give yourself more time and the freedom to do what you love by changing your routine, and getting help when you need it.  You may find that no amount of money is as valuable as your time doing the things you love.