Day 170 – Time is Your Watering Can

March 28, 2024

The concept of time as a watering can is introduced, emphasizing the importance of spending time on what truly brings joy and fulfillment. The idea that how we spend our time reflects our real priorities is explored, highlighting the need for self-reflection and evaluation. Time is compared to currency, with the understanding that it is a limited resource that cannot be saved or created. The importance of consciously choosing and focusing on the right priorities is emphasized, as well as the need to regularly evaluate and adjust them. Takeaways Time is a valuable resource that should be spent on what brings true joy and fulfillment. How we choose to spend our time reflects our real priorities, regardless of what we say is important. Time is a limited currency that cannot be saved or created. Consciously choosing and focusing on the right priorities is crucial for a fulfilling life. Sound Bites Chapters 00:00 Time as a Watering Can 02:07 Spending Time Reflects Priorities 02:55 Time as Currency 03:23 Choosing Priorities 03:58 Watering the Right Priorities 04:40 Evaluating and Changing Priorities

Episode Transcript

Guy Reams (00:01.838)
Today is day 170, time is your watering can. So I thought of this concept while watching the movie Godfather. And in one of the movies, the Godfather is an old man. He's in this tomato garden and he's got a spray can for probably insects or whatever, maybe some sort of insecticide. And he's going around and he's with his

grandson or great grandson and he's in the garden having just fun with his grandson. This is the moment where he has a heart attack.

So that got me thinking, and when I was younger and watched The Godfather, I thought that that was a watering can. I realized it was a secticide can, but whatever. The point is that I realized that The Godfather had died having first moment in his long life, true joy, spending time with his grandson. And I thought, period spent all this time building an empire.

building a family, building a criminal enterprise, and the few precious moments that he had where he had the true joy was the last moment he died. So that got me to thinking about time as a watering can. So I'm sure that you have priorities, I know that I do. I have several of them. Each are critically important to me, and that's what I tell myself.

I love to establish a bunch of idealistic lofty ambitions and set objectives to achieve them. However, if I inspect my life very carefully and track my time, where I choose to spend that time each day, I'll soon discover what my real priorities are. I just simply cannot hide the fact that I vote for my top priorities with my time. And same with you. What you choose to spend your time on is your

Guy Reams (02:07.682)
real priority. It doesn't matter what what god you profess to believe in. It doesn't matter what how important your children or family are. It doesn't matter what you say is important. What is ultimately important to you is where you spend your time.

Guy Reams (02:25.482)
When all is said and done, time is really your only currency. Time is the only item that accrues interest that doesn't corrupt. You know, if we save money, money accrues interest, but then money is also impacted by interest and inflation and taxes. Over time, if you do not attend to your money, it will go away. Time is different. You cannot save time. You cannot make time, not create time.

You can only spend what you have right now and you choose each and every day, every moment, every weekend, every morning and evening, where to spend this precious currency. It's exclusively up to you where and how that time gets spent. You may think you're being forced to spend time in a certain place. You maybe think that people are trying to make you spend your time in a certain place, but ultimately it's you that chooses where to spend.

If the currency of time was a watering can, then you only have a limited supply of water in that watering can. And you have this giant garden of priorities. You can choose where to put that water. The rest will wither and die. Your list of priorities is probably way too big. I know mine is. Your garden cannot possibly be watered with that can. You have to pick and choose where you're going to spend your limited supply of water.

This is a great way to think about each day when you wake up. Where am I going to water my garden?

You'll soon learn enough, soon enough, that if you take the approach of trying to spread the water all over the place and cover everything, then nothing will survive. So you have to provide the right amount of water to the plants that need it. You cannot try to spread the water everywhere. Doing that will ultimately cause everything to... Secondly, you can't just wander around willy -nilly watering wherever you think you need to. If you do not follow a prescribed plan and water where appropriate,

Guy Reams (04:28.206)
the plants will also die. So the only real choice is to make a conscious, proactive decision of where you're going to spend your time and spend a...

So spend some time today evaluating where are you spending your time? Where are you watering your garden consistently? Those are your real priorities. If you don't like those priorities after you're done with the evaluation, then you need to change. But I would recommend this, change really quickly. Because unfortunately, we will all learn soon enough that time just simply runs out.