Are you living for retirement?

Do you do shit you hate on a regular basis to pay for things you don’t truly need?

Do you go to bed every night overcome by the stress of the day?

Do you feel like your life is out of your control?

If you answered yes to the above, it’s time to start living your life on your terms, not 20-30 years from now.

There are no guarantees you’ll make it to age 65, let alone be in a condition to make the most of your new-found free time and retirement fund when you get there.

If you’re waiting for the perfect time to present itself, think twice. There’s no perfect time. Decide to live the life you want now and make it happen. Why wait for some far off ideal?

Ultimately, wasting time now is the worst possible thing you can do.

Time cannot be made up.

Time is your most valuable resource.

Time is everything.

Maybe it’s time for a change?

That is, after all, what this is about. You want to own your day, not be owned by it. You want to be free. Free to travel, free to pursue your passions, and free to spend your time with the people you want to spend it with.

But there’s so many ifs, ands or buts standing in your way. Or, at least, that’s what you tell yourself.

You’ll make up for it in retirement, right?

Again, have you ever considered the prospect of dying before you’re able to enjoy the fruits of your labour? If you’re waiting until 65 to start appreciating all that life has to offer, please reconsider.

Picture this: You’re lying in bed at a nursing home, knowing that your time left is limited. Do you want to have any regrets in that moment or pass away peacefully into the night knowing you gave everything to this wild and wacky world? You aren’t going to be wishing you’d spent more time at the office, that’s for sure.

When that heart rate monitor flat lines, hopefully you’re at peace with the life you lived. Hopefully you won’t be thinking about the money you made or the material possessions you left behind, but instead the lives you impacted and the relationships you fostered.

How do you ensure that happens? You follow your passions, create relationships that’ll live on forever, and become a person others want to be around and aspire to be.

You only get one life, and every minute of time is yours to own.

How do you want to spend that time?

Unfortunately, it’s easy to fall into the trappings of today’s society. I’ve strayed off course myself in the past.

I chased the money. I started a food truck business on the side for the sole reason of adding to my bank account, and it was an epic failure. The work was nothing but stress because I wasn’t passionate about what I was creating, and it reflected in the end product. People can see through the façade.

You truly need to work on your passions, because those who are successful are telling you that’s the secret. Shut off the cellphone, log out of Netflix and truly listen. When you do something with passion, the success will follow. It’s that simple.

It’s not about how smart you are.

It’s not about being born into a well-to-do family.

It’s not about how much sleep or relationships you sacrifice in an attempt to be the busiest person in the world. That’s actually a load of crap.

It’s about the passion you bring to the job.

Success is not some innate ability bestowed upon a lucky few. It’s in the details. If you want something, be prepared to work for it and overcome plenty of obstacles along the way. In order to do that, you have to enjoy the work, hence the passion = success correlation.

Just ask Thomas Edison, who tested thousands of plants before discovering a bamboo filament could burn for more than 1,200 hours straight. That’s hardly a stroke of luck or brilliance; more like consistent hard work and conviction.

<Light bulb moment (pun intended)> Stop doing shit you hate and follow Edison’s lead. Do work that matters – work that you care about – and it won’t actually feel like work at all.

Anyway, I’m getting off my soap box.

I lured you here with the promise of providing some practical, time saving tips, so here are 5 ways to save time before noon…

1) Do Your Most Important Work First

It’s often said that memory, alertness, and concentration tend to peak before noon, which means you should prioritize your tasks in the early part of the day. So skip the office gossip at the water cooler, and do not open your email or turn on your phone until you’ve invested at least an hour in your most important task.

2) Make Time For Your Passions

Doing work on shit you hate is called stress; doing work on shit you love is called passion. Choose to do as much of the latter as possible before noon. Hopefully your most important work aligns with your passion. If it doesn’t, start taking strides to change that.

3) Make A To-Do List

Having a plan of attack can align your focus, help you take control of your life, and get more done. We all have the same 24 hours, some just make use of it better by employing simple strategies. Spend a few minutes the night before (or before you leave work) organizing your schedule or to-do list for what you will be doing the next morning.

4) Exercise Your Right To Exercise

If your day is hectic, try to get in some form of exercise before things get going at full speed. Morning workouts are not for everybody, but for many it’s the only way to ensure it gets done. If you fall in the latter category, stop hitting “snooze” and own your day.

5) Don’t Eat A Typical American Breakfast

There’s nothing worse for productivity than a blast of carbohydrates first thing in the morning. Pancakes, toast and all the fixings put you to sleep. Sorry, Denny’s or IHOP, but we’ll be reserving our visits for weekend brunches only. Opt for a light breakfast (egg omelette) with healthy fats and protein instead and watch your productivity soar to new heights. Note: If you workout before breakfast, carbs are warranted, but don’t super-size that ish…

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