You’ve heard the old cliché that time is money? I’m here to set the record straight: time is much more valuable than money. With money, you can always earn more. With time once you waste it you’ve lost it.  

Time is sacred, precious and very scarce. Train your mind to think differently about time. Train your mind to instill a sense of urgency. The most effective way to do that is to make your mind believe that something catastrophic will happen. Make it believe that your life will expire sooner than later (i.e., you have a limited time left on this planet).  

Over three decades ago when I was a teenager, I actually convinced myself (by training my mind) that my life would end at the age of 40. I constantly repeated the phrase: “I’m going to die at the age of 40.” I repeated this a dozen times each day until I actually started believing it. I must have been a very good actor – eventually, I was obsessing that I would die at that age.  

I know this may sound morbid but I wanted to give myself a deadline to complete my major goals as quickly as possible. I also wanted to leave behind a legacy for my future kids. I’ve seen too many elderly people who had given up on their dreams; too many people with regrets I didn’t want to be another statistic. I pushed and pushed HARD.  

Once I believed it, I started living life with a sense of urgency. I was very focused and lived life by my priorities. Did it work? And how…I met all of my major goals by the age of 38 and I am now 65 and still very productive. 

I’m not saying to take it to this extreme, however, this is your life and none of us know how much time we have. So use your time wisely and abhor waste.