How to Take Your Time Without Losing Out in Life

We live in a fast-paced world where we expect things to happen quickly. We want to get our ideal jobs fast. And we expect the process of finding ourselves at the top of our careers to happen quickly. We want an instant result and we get angry and frustrated when things didn’t work out as quickly as we anticipated.

But there would always be a time when you’d have no other choice, but to take your time.

Imagine driving to the venue of an important meeting in which you’re the chairperson. Everyone is already seated waiting for you to arrive. The calls keep coming, but you’re stuck in traffic and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s either they wait till you arrive or the meeting gets rescheduled.

When you encounter a disappointment or a delay that forces your journey in life to come to a temporary halt, then it’s time to disconnect your emotion and your attention from what didn’t become, or from what’s gone — and focus on living in the moment.

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The Importance of Living in the Moment

There would always be rewarding and interesting things for you at the moment. It mightn’t be exactly what you believe you wanted, but when you live in the moment, you’ll realize that life won’t deny you anything each time you decide to take your time.

A good friend of mine decided to relocate and start afresh after his relationship with his fiancée crumbled. He believed relocating to a new place will help him to heal and bounce back. He left town with a heavy heart, but he was hoping to turn things around.

He took a lower-paying job to keep himself busy, earn money, and get to know the city well. He took his time at this job despite experiencing some discomforts. Eventually, things began to turn around. He met a nice girl through one of his connections. They got married. He now has a wonderful family with his wife and son — and working at a better company.

Taking your time doesn’t bring your journey in life to a halt. Rather it’s an opportunity to work on yourself, develop important skills It might be the ideal time to learn a new skill. Or to work at a lower-paying job, but rich in knowledge and experience that’d later come in handy. Also, living in the moment ensures you’re in control of your life.

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Things Mustn’t Change Quickly Each Time You Experiences Slowdown.

Trying to get things moving quickly after you experience a setback can cause you to miss an opportunity to learn the lessons you’re supposed to learn. Or taking some important steps in the direction that’ll benefit you later on in life.

Jim Rohn in his book The Keys Success, mentions that you “Don’t mistake movement for achievement.” Moving doesn’t always guarantee progress. You might be very busy with nothing to show for it. You also might think you’re moving forward, whereas you’re moving in circles or the wrong direction.

The first time I dipped my toes into entrepreneurship. I was upbeat and very enthusiastic about the venture. I worked hard to achieve success but unfortunately, the business collapsed largely due to inexperience.

There and then some friends and relatives quickly came to my aid to help me get things moving again. They believed I’d get it right if I give it another try. But my response was to be given some time to mull over it.

After a fortnight, I reached out to let them know that I greatly appreciate their willingness to assist me, but I wasn’t ready to commence on another business journey. My reason was that I needed to take my time to appraise my performance, learn from the experience before I give it another try.

Taking my time turned out to be a wise decision. I used that period to study and learn some vital skills that have benefited me immensely in my business journey. This means that if I hadn’t taken my time, I’d not have known why the first one failed. I also wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn what would help me to succeed in subsequent business endeavors.

Trying to move things quickly can cause you to repeat a mistake. Or to get involved in activities that mightn’t benefit you in other areas of your life. But when you take your time, you’d be able to have a better understanding of your life especially on things you’re trying to achieve. You’d realize what’s more necessary — and what you need to be doing pending when things turn around or when you’re ready to get back to your game.

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Living Above Complaints Would Allow You to Have a Clear Focus.

You need to live in joy. You need to step out each day with a positive mindset. You need to approach every task with the sole intent to do your best at it. And what you have now is all you’ve got for the time being — and it’s enough for you to continue to live worthwhile each day.

But you can’t have a clear focus if you keep complaining about what you don’t have yet. Over what you lost. Or over what you nearly had. Your view of the world and things happening around you will be foggy. This will enervate you mentally and cause you not to make the right decisions for your life. Or to take the steps that’ll allow you to continue to make tiny progress.

Appreciate what you have while being patient with life. Take your time and focus on moving your life in the right direction each day by engaging in activities that’ll enrich your life and bring out the best in you later on. Living above complaints will help you to actualize contentment. And contentment is important in living rightly and optimally while taking your time.

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Conclusion

Patience is an asset and never a setback. And taking your time when is called for might turn out to be the reason why you’re going to become more qualified — and more prepared to actualize growth in your career.

Though it has become a norm to expect our goals and desires to happen quickly. Nevertheless, it pays to understand that you can take your time and still achieve your goals in life. Taking your time won’t diminish your chances of achieving career success rather it’d allow you to invest your time in beneficial activities that’d prepare you to succeed in the long run.

Many individuals have benefited a lot from taking their time at different points in their lives. And each time they reflect, they realize how taking their time helped them to live a more rewarding life and to get to where they’re today.

Previously published on Medium by the same author.