There’s a line from a U2 song that cropped up into my head this morning: “the end is not as far as the start”. These are words that have extra meaning for me these days – hard to believe, but I recently crossed the halfway mark of my year off from my full-time job. While the clock was ticking up from the beginning back in May, June and July, there’s that second clock that’s popped up with the countdown to the end.

When you stop working 9-5, at first it feels like you have all the time in the world. But very quickly, even with all the newfound time on my hands, I’ve found that time has still been like an empty bucket: you always find something to fill it with – and that’s certainly been the case for me. Quite often these days I’ll find myself talking about this with people: what I’m doing, what I’m working on, how I’m spending my time. I love these conversations because it always sparks new ideas and motivates me to do more.

But the further along into this year off I go, and the more I think about what I’m doing, the more I forget to remember the “why“: Why did I take this year off? And so, every opportunity I get now, I’m trying to remember and refocus on why I’m doing what I’m doing.

A really helpful reminder has come from my dad. He sent me an email this morning which really captures the motivation. It was this line of reasoning that ultimately led me to take this “tiny leap”, and this is almost the exact pattern of thought that gave me the final push. I’ve read something similar before, unfortunately I can’t remember where and the email didn’t have a source for credit (if you know where it originally came from, I’d be happy to know).

Anyhow, here it is, hope you enjoy it!

How Would You Spend Your 86,400?

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest: Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use.

However, this prize has rules, just as any game has certain rules.

The first set of rules would be:

• Everything that you didn’t spend during each day would be taken away from you.
• You may not simply transfer money into some other account.
• You may only spend it.

Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day. The second set of rules:

• The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say: Its over, the game is over!
• It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do?

You would buy anything and everything you wanted right? Not only for yourself, but for all people you love, right? Even for people you don’t know, because you couldn’t possibly spend it all on yourself, right? You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?

ACTUALLY This GAME is REALITY!

Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank. We just can’t seem to see it.

The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!

Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us.

What we haven’t lived up that day is forever lost.

Yesterday is forever gone.

Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time….WITHOUT WARNING.

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?

Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars.

Think about that,and always think of this:

Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.

So take care of yourself, be Happy, Love Deeply and Enjoy Life!

Here’s wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day.

Start spending.