86,400 Seconds in a Day: How Will You Spend Them?

This post marks the return of my Leadership Insight series, now known as "The Leadership Blitz."

No matter what level of success you've reached, no matter if you are a seasoned business professional or just started your business 10 minutes ago, and no matter whether you're the wealthiest person in the world or at the beginning stages of building your fortune, there's one thing that each and every one of us is given on a daily basis that can make or break our success depending upon how it's utilized.

It's not material and cannot be touched.

It's not money. It's not fame.

It's Time.

I've heard a lot of great analogies on the value of time, but none resonated more strongly than the one I heard today from my leadership guru, John Jackson.

Imagine a bank that deposited $86,400 into your account every single day. The money is yours to use for whatever you wish. But at the end of the day, the bank will liquidate whatever amount of that money you did not use.

If this were to happen, wouldn't you withdrawl the full amount every day? Of course you would!

Well, each day when you wake up, you are given a gift just as valuable: the gift of time. 86,400 seconds to be exact. And you have the ability to choose how each of these precious seconds is spent.

And at the end of the day, the seconds you do not use will be lost forever. Of course, you'll receive a new "deposit" the next day, but think of everything you lost by not spending the seconds that were at your disposal wisely. Spending your time wisely as opposed to wasting it on non-income producing activities is nothing more than a hinderance to your overall goals.

You can never expect to reach the peak of the mountain if you aren't prepared to spend your seconds climbing towards it.

The lesson we can take from this is not to waste a single precious second. The old saying "time is money" holds truth in a literal sense, for if your time was tangible money (paper bills), you'd do everything in your power to put every penny to use.

So, do the same with your time! As leaders, time is your greatest asset. And how you leverage time in your favor defines a true characteristic that will carry you to the highest levels of success in life, business, and personal development.

Live for today, and spend every second you have in a positive way.

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery, today is a gift. That's why it's called the 'present.'"