Guard Your Time

Many great leaders I interview point to Stoicism as a significant influence on how they approach each day. Seneca is one of the great Stoics. Seneca reminds us to be more frugal with our time than our money: "You will find no one willing to share out his money, but to how many does each of us divide up his life! People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” It’s true. Some people will get five quotes on a piece of furniture, walk the mall looking for the cheapest cup of coffee, buy beer and wine only when it’s on sale. Yet they flit away their time on social media, watch rubbish television, read books that add no value or endure arduous meetings that have no purpose. These same people are the first to complain that they haven’t got time to read, listen, plan, learn and get ahead. I think the quote from Seneca is so powerful, that it’s worth re-reading, "People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy." © GB