5 Ways to Improve Your Life By Living Intentionally - 525,600 Minutes

By Jackie White

Seasons of Love (525,600 Minutes)

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure? Measure a year?
In daylights,
In sunsets,
In midnights,
In cups of coffee,
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in a life?
How about love?

The song Seasons of Love from Rent, is a great reminder that life is all about time and how you spend it. One year from now what will be different? Do you have goals you were hoping to accomplish this year? I know, we are supposed to talk about this stuff in January and then forget about it in February - right? 

​So, let’s get to the truth of it all, the only thing we have is time - that is, until our time runs out. Each year we get 525,600 minutes. Some people change the world in that amount of time! Some people are disappointed that “another year” went by and yet the goals remain untouched. The weight is still on, they are still going to the unfulfilling crappy job or they didn’t get together with friends and family as much as they had hoped or maybe their kids and spouse aren’t getting attention they want to give them.

But how do you find the time? What single thing could possibly change the constant wasting of time? And whether you mean to or not, it is a wasting of time when you are not giving attention to those things you find important in life. The antidote to that is living life with intention. When you live life with intention, you can change your life quite drastically. 

Today is the day you can begin living life with intention. Here’s how you do it:

ONE: Identify what are the goals you want to accomplish.

• Figure out where your time is going. The chart below shows you where the average person is spending their time. Keeping track of every activity for every hour for each day for a week with a Time Log. The results can be very revealing.

​TWO: Intentionally shift your mindset about time:

1. Start looking at each minute as a choice. It’s up to you how you spend every minute in your life.
2. Live each minute in gratitude. When you do this, even the hard stuff won’t be so bad.
3. Recognize that you are overestimating how much of your time you are spending on tasks (everyone does it), so pay attention to what you are doing and the actual time spent doing that task
4. Replace the phrase “I don’t have time for that” with “That is not a priority for me.'' Yikes, that one can sting! But, it’s the truth.
5. Now, re-prioritize how you are choosing how you spend your time.

THREE: Track progress against goals weekly. ​​

• ​Find a friend to do this with and the accountability level goes up!

FOUR: Re-track time in the Time Log.

• Once, you are feeling like you are making changes. Assess if you are happy with your progress or maybe you need to make further changes.

​​FIVE: ​​​​Keep mindful of how you are spending your time.​​​

For more information on time management check out the book 168 Hours by Laura VanderKam.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this excerpt from the song Seasons of Love:


Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand journeys to plan
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a life of a woman or a man?
The story never ends
Let's celebrate and remember a year in a life of friends

How will you spend your 525,600 minutes?
​

Songwriters: JONATHAN D. LARSON. Seasons of Love lyrics © Universal Music Corp., Finster & Lucy Music Ltd. Co., Universal Music Corporation, FINSTER & LUCY MUSIC LTD CO, UNIVERSAL MUSIC CORP OBO FINSTER & LUCY LLC