THE FACTS OF TIME

by: Bad Boy Mike

Introduction
(*This post is only the introduction to the Chapters that will follow over the next few months.)

Let’s cover the biggest fact about time right up front.  If you don’t make it, you can’t spend it, period!

If I hadn’t made the time, I wouldn’t have spent that time writing this masterpiece for you to read, flat out!  Which leads precisely to the reason why the publishing of these golden words are months late coming off of the printing press.  See, I had to make the time in order to spend this time and I suck at time management, and that’s just the beginning of this story!

Now, typically I would have ended the previous sentence with a comma, followed by “end of story,” followed by an explanation mark!  Had I used that pattern, it would have been my normal Holy Trinity of closing points to set the tone.  That tone being definitive, period, flat out, and end of story!

But it’s not the end of the story, nowhere even close.

Maybe you’ve already picked up on the fact that a self-admitted “sucker” is writing an article, book, or whatever you want to call it about the facts of time and time management.  That’s just a little ironic, huh?  I like irony and I like figuring things out.  When you can master anything and gain multiple perspectives as a result of your own personal experiences with any given subject matter, who better than that person to take the wheel?

Buckle up, this road trip we’re about to embark on deserves the time you’re making to read it.  Oh, bring your gas card, credit card, or some cash please.  I’ll need help gassing up the car because on top of my stellar time management skills, I’m flat broke.  Time truly is just like money.  You’ve gotta make them both in order for both of them to work for you.  Start taking advantage of the time you do have right now.  Start working towards achieving your goals or dreams.  Stop watching that clock tic toc past opportunities and start cashing in on them.

Coming from me that probably sounds as crazy as a one-legged chicken running away from your dinner plate, right?

Well, I definitely am in prison.  I’m reminded about that fact every time I take more than 2-3 steps in any given direction by concrete walls and my cell bars.  And I “supposedly” have all the time in the world and I’m talking to you about making “time” and managing it even though that talent escapes me.  And I’m completely broke.  Go figure!  Yes, me talking to you about time, money, and opportunity sounds crazy, but you are reading about this glorious perspective I’ve gained, so, I must have figured some things out.  But I still need you to pay for the gas because the flat broke problem still very much exists.

Regardless of your “freedom status” or the value of your bank account, the future you want won’t drive to your house and park itself in your driveway.  Mine certainly is not getting into my prison cell.  You gotta go out and put in those miles to track it down, catch up with it, find it, or simply figure out what exactly “it” is.

Here’s a couple of questions that might help you map out your journey.

Do you manage your time well?  How about your money?  Are you always busy and broke?  Do you make excuses for that fact?  Are you making excuses right now to avoid reading this article?  Enough with the excuses already, let’s check out some facts about time and see what mile-marker you’re stuck at.

Fact, everything good or bad in life is born out of time and opportunity.  They either work for or against you.  You either create or waste them.  The choices you’ve made in those moments have absolutely determined the quality of life you’re currently living.

Fact, you have the ability to take control of one of the most powerful influences—definitely the most constant force—in your life, time.  It’s a subliminal, underlying pressure that exerts itself on all of us.  It’s easily taken for granted or overlooked.

However you choose to perceive the power and influence of time over your life, we all share two (2) facts or a “mindset” concerning our time and the desired outcomes we hope for based on how we spend it.  Fact one, we want the time we spend to be good, bring us happiness, and to serve some sort of purpose for us.  We don’t want to make mistakes or miss out on something that would be beneficial to us in some way.  When people fall short of results, hello excuses!

Here’s a fun fact.  Those excuses vary immensely based on the individual and their state of mind or current life’s circumstances.  It’s truly amazing the excuses a person will tell themselves—or want you to believe—in order to justify what they’re doing.  Like time itself is somehow responsible for their decisions.  It doesn’t matter what the consequences or outcomes are, it’s simply not their fault.  I might’ve toyed around with some excuses a time or two in my past (Bad Mike) and I assure you that fact isn’t too much fun right now considering my current freedom status and bank account value.

Fact two, we all wish we had more time or could get a do-over of some sort.  In golf you get a Mulligan.  In the criminal justice system, you get a parole, probation, or a second chance.  Whatever you want to call the opportunity to redo the mistake or wind-back the hands of time, we all have something in our past we would want to apply this concept towards.  Since that do-over concept is exactly that, a concept and not a real thing, you learn to appreciate the power and impact of how you’re choosing to spend your time right now.  You can’t “redo” the time that’s already been wasted, spent making mistakes, or spent making excuses for yourself.  You can’t go back in time and fix things either, that’s another fact.

Remember this concept: “Only the future can correct the past.”

Use time to do the work and eliminate the need for do-overs in your life altogether.  You may not be able to fix things, but you surely can make changes that’ll earn you a new beginning.  You’ll have plenty of opportunities to redo the same or similar things differently, better.  We’re truly lucky to have the opportunities that we do.  If we’re not happy with our lives, we have the time (hopefully) and the ability to change that fact.  Opportunity is a gift given to us all from time itself.

Sure, sometimes life gives you a detour on the road to your dreams or attempts to run you right off that road and straight into a ditch (yeah, let’s blame it on life).  Having your goals mapped out, being prepared, and applying good time management skills will help you “ditch” the excuses and avoid detours as well.  You’ll see the opportunities that’ll help you achieve your goals more clearly.

Quick side note:  Always consider how precious each day, hour, minute, and second truly is and don’t waste it.  You never know where your road may end or what time your clock will stop ticking altogether.  So please, take some time out of your busy schedule to reflect on that fact.  In the meantime, if you’re driving down the road of life to analyze your past, cash in on the present moment, or plan for your future remember: “Time will continue driving on with or without you.  It drives everything including life itself, so manage it well.”

Fact, time doesn’t need your permission to drive your life hard or easy, fast or slow, long or short, productive or wasteful, or any other way you could possibly imagine; it just keeps on driving.  Whatever map you’re choosing to follow for directions while driving down “Whatever Road” you’re guaranteed to arrive at one of the following destinations: failure, success, happiness, or disappointment.  Whether you show up on time or late depends on the amount of turns you take and the speed at which you decide to travel.  If you crash and die, you won’t show up at all.

Keep in mind, the road trip that you’re choosing to go on becomes a solid representation of who you are, your skills, abilities, and what you’ve chosen to do with your life—better yet, your time.

More often than not, people like to make excuses for themselves and blame “life” for controlling their outcomes.  They’ll drive themselves right into that ditch and become content being stuck.  They just sit there and pretend they’re doing everything they possibly can to change their circumstances.  They just sit back and agree with life like they don’t have the ability to make choices for themselves.

Is that what Tesla was banking on with self-driving cars?  I guess if people have enough money to buy one of those and it crashes into a ditch, they’ve paid for the right to sit in whatever ditch they want. My bank account won’t even allow me to buy one of those Fred Flintstone cars, so I’ll just steer away from this ditch.

Here’s a fact that you can drive straight to your bank account and deposit though: “Hard or easy, good times or bad, if you don’t manage time, it’ll manage you.” With all of that being said, I’ll say it again one final time, I truly do suck at time management and “what a ditch” it is.  Great news though, I possess the ability to do the work and change that fact of my past—key word, past.

Say goodbye to bad time management!

Welcome to this road trip.

– Bad Boy Mike –

Dedication

I dedicate this book/whatever you want to call it to my children, my parents, and to God.  Without them, the writing of this would have never been possible.

This dedication is my promise to utilize, manage, and spend my time in ways that will fulfill my commitments, promises, obligations, supports my goals/dreams, and that I’ll always “do the work” in all ways, always. I’ll never spend my time in any way that would ever jeopardize my freedom ever again.  I love you all and I look forward to my release from prison and earning my way back into your lives.