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Reclaiming Your Time!

Writer's picture: Jessica ClarkJessica Clark

I don't know how many of you have seen the video of Maxine Waters as she addresses' Trump's treasury secretary. But if you haven't, here you go:


The older I get, the more and more I realize that time is precious. There's only twenty-four hours in a day, 365 days in a year, and everyone ain't gonna live forever. Once our time is gone, has been wasted, or has passed us up, trust me there's NO way we can ever get it back - no matter how much we convince ourselves we can make up for lost time.

For these exact reasons we all like to use our time effectively and spend it wisely. It's often frustrating when we are dealing with people who don't value our time. One thing that I always have to remember is that no one is going to value my time, the way I value it. And in the words of any wise business person, "Time is money," and the time wasted, is the opportunities lost.

This video of Maxine Waters is the perfect example of an occasion where someone addresses their time being wasted. She refuses to allow people to play on her watch.

Be like Maxine y'all! Be like Maxine!

You've got to know when someone is wasting your time, and the moment you peep it, you already know what you have to do: reclaim your time. Cut people off from wasting your time, your energy, and your effort.

Mind you this doesn't mean just pull out the scissors and get to snipping. Getting yourself a little break and giving yourself some space from the drain of energy you've been feeling is sometimes good. So if you need some space, take it! It's good for you, and the people around you will understand that just want to take some time to refresh yourself. Sometimes there may not be people that need to be cut off from you, you may just need to take that space to reclaim your positive energy, reclaim your time, and spend the new time doing things that help bring you to a peace.

(Side note: continuing to implement those peaceful things is very, very, important once the break or period of space is done with).


Over the past couple years, I've learned that there are certain things that don't deserve my energy. Here's a short list of some things I'm letting go of for the purpose of growth:

  1. Negativity. If you know me personally, you know that I am a very positive person. I value good vibes. And I do not want to be surrounded with negativity. When people are being negative, their negativity can latch onto you. So sometimes you have to distance yourself from people or things that intend to attack your peace, they are toxic. When you're around negativity you need to entirely detach yourself, reclaim your time, and get out of that negative atmosphere. A positive mindset will propel you! But wasting time being negative will hold you back. So let that hurt go sis, and move forward.

  2. Control. I'm working on going with the flow, and it's hard. When you're use to being independent and fixing a lot of things in your life, it's hard to relinquish control in areas of your life that don't need control at all. I can choose where, when, how, what, why, and with whom I give my energy, time, and effort. However, when I waste time trying to be in control, I make a even bigger mess. Sometimes we long to be in control for our own selfish satisfaction. When in reality theirs nothing for us to worry about. The only people we are in control of is ourselves - and it's selfish for us to think otherwise. So I don't want to put any more energy into trying to control things I can't. What will be, will be - I don't have to force it. All I have to do is live for today, keep the faith, pray (and ask God to give me the strength) and remain calm and at peace.

  3. Self-Pity. Unfortunately, like most artists, I am my biggest critic. I am so hard on myself. And sometimes I can be so hard on myself where I get discouraged and unmotivated. I had to realize that if I kept going so hard on myself, to the point where I was so pitiful I was unmotivated, it would be the death of me. I've decided that it's best I don't waste too much time being hard on myself for slacking. I can simply acknowledge that I fell off, and get back to it. I can be honest with myself but after that I've got to focus and grind even harder.

  4. Cluttering my mind. Sometimes there can be so many things going on in my brain at once, I don't know where to start. So it's important for me to keep my mind and what I can control organized. It could be as simple as keeping my desk space clean, having no clutter in my email, or even just prioritizing my thinking and working on one thing at a time. When I use up my energy thinking about all that I have to do, I make even more clutter up there - I can even stress myself out. So it's best I focus on one thing at a time, divide and conquer, and just break things down. Bring myself some type of mental peace so that I don't feel like there is mayhem everywhere - this mental clarity puts me in a space to accomplish so much more.

  5. Everything else. When I say this I mean that Jessica is first over any and everything. Some of my time, energy, and effort should first and foremost go to me. As a selfless person, a caring person, a kind person, sometimes I care so much about other people's needs that I forget this, and spend most of my time catering to others. I'm always going to be there for the ones I love, no matter what. I just have to balance out being there for them and taking care of me as well.

There's so much to do, in so little time, so in reality none of us have time to waste. We've got to figure out the 5 W's and 1 H (where, what, when, why, who, and how) of time investment. And the most important part of investing, is knowing when the things we thought needed investment don't need it anymore.

So...

When someone is trying to use you for their own personal gain; When someone is trying to talk down on you, or always talk bad about other people; When someone is stealing your joy; Whenever you start overthinking; When you feel like something is compromising your peace; Or even when doubts creep in your mind, you instantly gotta go:

To be honest with you I felt like fell victim to wasting time this summer. I worked and slept, but I'm still broke and tired. I ran a summer camp, I volunteered, I traveled, I spent a little time with the some of people I love, and I had a lot of fun. And although I may have done a lot... I still feel like that wasn't enough, like something was missing. I didn't put enough energy towards working on my craft, my business, and my blog. But I still have time. Summer isn't over. So now, as my summer comes to a close, it's grind time - I'm locking in my focus and doing as much that I can before I go back to school. My advice to you would be to reclaim your time while you can boo. Sometimes you've got to know when's the right time to reclaim it, before it gets away from you, and you've wasted it or you've made a wreck.

What do you think you've been wasting your time on? What doesn't deserve your time anymore? Tell me in the comments.


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