“Do you have a minute?” – this is a question that we hear frequently throughout the day, especially if we are business owners, hold a managerial role, or are simply open people, always willing to help others.
Making yourself available to help others is wonderful, but it starts to lose its attraction when we start sacrificing our own priorities in doing so. In order to offer assistance and solve other people’s problems, you must give them some of your time, until finally, you arrive at the end of the day finding yourself in a position where you haven’t done the things that were important to you personally.
One strategy that Kruse has adopted is that of attaching a sign to his office door with “1,440” clearly printed on it (there are 1,440 total minutes in one day). His colleagues were slightly offended when they realised that it was his way of politely asking them not to disturb him. However, over time, it came to be appreciated, as each one of them became more aware of the importance of other people’s time and strived to respect it and ask for help only when it was truly necessary.
If we stop and think for a moment about the things that are truly important, most of us will probably think of love, work, money, good health, and time. Amongst all of these things, the only thing that we can never get back is time. Self-made millionaire entrepreneurs, professionals, athletes, and model students know full-well that time is the most precious resource that they have and treat it as such.
Irrespective of each of our differences, we all have the same amount of time at our disposal– the same 1,440 minutes a day. You too could try sticking an enormous 1,440 sign somewhere that you will see it often, as a reminder of the fact that you have this amazing resource, but that it is limited. Even if you don’t always realise it, many things can be achieved in a single minute: introducing yourself to somebody you don’t know, writing a couple of sentences to thank someone, coming up with a great idea. Make sure that you are using these precious minutes in the best way possible and that you value them!
