MAXIMISING OUR USE OF TIME
Chayei Sarah
Imagine you were given $86,400 each day, deposited into your bank account. This money could be spent at your discretion, but with one proviso - there is no roll-over. Whatever is not spent, is lost.
Each day we are given 86,400 seconds, 24 hours to use as we choose. The time we don’t use out to the fullest is lost and can never be returned.
On their death-bed, No one looks back and says “I wish I had made more money”. Often our biggest regret is lost time and what more we could have accomplished in life. The irony is that we get so caught up in “things” and “stuff” that our most precious gift is under-utilised or wasted.
Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Gabirol encapsulates this in a powerful idiom;
אדם דואג על איבוד דמיו ואינו דואג על איבוד ימיו, דמיו אינם עוזרים, ימיו אינם חוזרים.
Man worries about the waste of his money, but does not worry about the waste of his years, (ultimately) his money does not help and his years do not return.
Life is filled with distractions, which in the technological era have only become more exacerbated. A recent study in the USA estimated that the cost of lost productivity due to employee use of social media totalled over $650 billion per year!
It may take just one minute to look at an SMS, twitter or Facebook post, but the minutes add up. If you multiply this across the year and across the entire workforce, the collective impact is staggering. After the interruption, it takes up to 20 minutes to properly refocus on the task at hand.
This is the financial cost. But imagine the human cost. What could have been accomplished in this lost time? And the distractions don’t just invade our workspace, they also impact our relationships and other important areas or our lives.
In this week’s Parsha we read how Avraham was advancing in years. The phrase used, בא בימים literally means coming with days. The commentaries note that Avraham came with his days and was able to account for the accomplishments of each day. Every moment was lived with meaning and purpose and utilised to the fullest in the service of his Creator.
On Yud Shvat 5730, the Rebbe related the following personal anecdote:
Late one night, the Rebbe entered the Frierdike Rebbe’s study in Leningrad. The Frierdike Rebbe had just finished taking Yechidus and would be leaving in an hour and a half to catch a train for an important meeting in Moscow. The trip was frought with danger, yet he calmly sat organising papers as if nothing else was happening.
Observing this, the Rebbe could not contain his surprise and asked his father-in-law, “I know that Chabad Chassidism is based on the principle that "the mind rules the heart", but to such an extent?”
The Frierdike Rebbe replied, "we cannot make our days longer and nor can we add additional hours to our nights. But we can maximize how we use our time, by regarding each segment of time as a world of its own. When we devote a portion of time, whether it is an hour, a day or a minute, to a certain task, we should be totally invested in what we are doing as if nothing else exists in the world."
This is the key to what the Rebbe Maharash referred to as 'Hatzlacha Bizman', success in how we use and maximise our time.
If it’s the time allotted to Davening or a shiur, a task at work, or when we set aside to time to spend with our spouse, our children or a friend, we need to block out all distractions and be completely present in what’s most meaningful at the time, as though nothing else exists.
Amongst Chassidim, it was common practise to make a Cheshbon Nefesh, an accounting of the day, each night when reciting the bedtime Shema.
What did I achieve today? How did I grow today? What good deeds did I do today? How did I help others today? And most importantly how can tomorrow be better than today?
We may not be able to account for every second or every minute. We might not be able to avoid or shake free of distractions. But the lesson of Avraham Avinu and the story of the Frierdike Rebbe is still relevant. If we want to be more productive, live with purpose and make our days count, be present and live in the moment.
Each day we are given 86,400 seconds, 24 hours to use as we choose. The time we don’t use out to the fullest is lost and can never be returned.
On their death-bed, No one looks back and says “I wish I had made more money”. Often our biggest regret is lost time and what more we could have accomplished in life. The irony is that we get so caught up in “things” and “stuff” that our most precious gift is under-utilised or wasted.
Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Gabirol encapsulates this in a powerful idiom;
אדם דואג על איבוד דמיו ואינו דואג על איבוד ימיו, דמיו אינם עוזרים, ימיו אינם חוזרים.
Man worries about the waste of his money, but does not worry about the waste of his years, (ultimately) his money does not help and his years do not return.
Life is filled with distractions, which in the technological era have only become more exacerbated. A recent study in the USA estimated that the cost of lost productivity due to employee use of social media totalled over $650 billion per year!
It may take just one minute to look at an SMS, twitter or Facebook post, but the minutes add up. If you multiply this across the year and across the entire workforce, the collective impact is staggering. After the interruption, it takes up to 20 minutes to properly refocus on the task at hand.
This is the financial cost. But imagine the human cost. What could have been accomplished in this lost time? And the distractions don’t just invade our workspace, they also impact our relationships and other important areas or our lives.
In this week’s Parsha we read how Avraham was advancing in years. The phrase used, בא בימים literally means coming with days. The commentaries note that Avraham came with his days and was able to account for the accomplishments of each day. Every moment was lived with meaning and purpose and utilised to the fullest in the service of his Creator.
On Yud Shvat 5730, the Rebbe related the following personal anecdote:
Late one night, the Rebbe entered the Frierdike Rebbe’s study in Leningrad. The Frierdike Rebbe had just finished taking Yechidus and would be leaving in an hour and a half to catch a train for an important meeting in Moscow. The trip was frought with danger, yet he calmly sat organising papers as if nothing else was happening.
Observing this, the Rebbe could not contain his surprise and asked his father-in-law, “I know that Chabad Chassidism is based on the principle that "the mind rules the heart", but to such an extent?”
The Frierdike Rebbe replied, "we cannot make our days longer and nor can we add additional hours to our nights. But we can maximize how we use our time, by regarding each segment of time as a world of its own. When we devote a portion of time, whether it is an hour, a day or a minute, to a certain task, we should be totally invested in what we are doing as if nothing else exists in the world."
This is the key to what the Rebbe Maharash referred to as 'Hatzlacha Bizman', success in how we use and maximise our time.
If it’s the time allotted to Davening or a shiur, a task at work, or when we set aside to time to spend with our spouse, our children or a friend, we need to block out all distractions and be completely present in what’s most meaningful at the time, as though nothing else exists.
Amongst Chassidim, it was common practise to make a Cheshbon Nefesh, an accounting of the day, each night when reciting the bedtime Shema.
What did I achieve today? How did I grow today? What good deeds did I do today? How did I help others today? And most importantly how can tomorrow be better than today?
We may not be able to account for every second or every minute. We might not be able to avoid or shake free of distractions. But the lesson of Avraham Avinu and the story of the Frierdike Rebbe is still relevant. If we want to be more productive, live with purpose and make our days count, be present and live in the moment.