2009 Mid-Term Review

"Time passes so slowly when you're working," a complete stranger told me yesterday in one of the corridors of the new Jacques Delors building in Brussels, "while the lunch break goes by in the blink of an eye." I smiled, thinking that he wasn't alone in thinking this. Most people make similar remarks whenever the subject of time, life, and even the current year is mentioned. Now, as you've probably noticed, each day is invariably composed of 24 hours, and these 24 hours follow exactly the same rhythm. And did you know that 181 of the 365 days of this year have already passed, i.e., roughly 4,344 hours; therefore, we only have 184 left? The question, then, is what we have done with these 181 days.

What we do with our time says a lot about who we are and what we will succeed in becoming. I often meet people who live under the illusion of running out of time simply because they are unable to set priorities and stick to them. Sometimes we let other people whose focus diverges completely from ours set our agenda and priorities and we waste time unnecessarily.

We must learn to make the most of our time and demand added value in everything we spend our time on. We must invest ourselves in the right activities, the right thoughts, and the right people. Everyone has a choice. Ask yourself, 'What do you spend your time doing, what do you spend your time thinking about, and with whom do you spend your time?' Choose activities that take you to your destination, thoughts that prepare you for your purpose, rejecting negativity and complaints, and choose people who lift you up, not down. My friends, we still have 184 days left in 2009—enough time to make it extremely fruitful.