By Greg Kozera, Shale Crescent USA
Talking to some friends after church last weekend, one commented, “As we get older, time seems to fly by. I can’t believe 2024 is almost over.” Time, is a great equalizer. We all have different talents and abilities. Some people have more money than others. We all have 24 hours in a day to use as we choose. No more, no less. No matter how wealthy someone is they can’t buy more time. We can only choose how we spend our time.
A few months ago, I was in the middle of business and phone calls when the doorbell rang. It was Bradley, my neighbor’s grandson who is now in middle school. “Mr. Kozera, do you want to come out and play basketball?” I responded, “Bradley, I’m in the middle of a few things.” I pondered for a second, looked at Bradley and smiled. “Get warmed up. Five me 5 minutes and I’ll be out.” Bradley said he was preparing for middle school basketball tryouts. We did some drills and then played one on one. Bradley got his workout. I did too and had fun. Turned out I needed the break and the exercise. The work still got done.
We got our family Christmas letter mailed a full week before Christmas. Typically, I’m mailing half of them the day after Christmas. Lynnda thinks it’s because Dannielle and I didn’t do the race at Kiawah Island, SC. (A 5-day trip in December) Instead we ran a half-marathon on Thanksgiving Day. The Christmas letter tells the highpoints of our year. All the places we went and the people we saw or who went with us. Writing the Christmas letter gives us the opportunity to look back over the entire year and see how we spent our time. Was it aligned with our goals and values?
We did long distance traveling to places like Germany, Iceland and Florida for business and pleasure. The real highpoints were the family and friends we got to spend quality time with. We saw our oldest granddaughter graduate from college and saw our grandson in Florida play one of his final high school soccer matches. He entered the Air Force after graduation. Went to Florida to see our first great-grandson a month after he was born. Did a lot of trips in the region including a church conference/revival in Indianapolis and a train trip to the Greenbrier with 20 people from our church.
No one knows how much time they have. Country singer Tim McGraw says in his song Live Like You Were Dying, “I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain Climbing, I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu, And I loved deeper, And I spoke sweeter, And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying, And, he said, Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.”
Having the privilege to work with executives locally and globally, I learned successful executives treat their time with the same value and respect as money. Because of this I learned to bring value to every conversation and meeting, even email. Value could be sharing an idea, information they can use, a connection from our network who can help them or by being a trusted advisor they can talk to. Shale Crescent USA wants to bring companies to our region to create jobs but it must make good economic, business and environmental sense for them. The decision to expand in the SCUSA is a long-term decision spanning decades. We must help them NOT sell them.
Time can be far more valuable money. We can find ways to earn more money. We can’t make more time. We can use money to make time for things important to us. My neighbor likes to cut grass. It is a change from his day job where he sits a lot. I don’t like to cut grass. I’m happy to pay him to cut our grass and use that time for our business, go to HS soccer practice or spend one on one time with Lynnda, my wife.
It isn’t just about spending time. It is about memorable time. Life doesn’t give us many do overs. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Christmas was a special time. I have 5 brothers. We grew up in a loving stable home. By today’s standards we didn’t have a lot of stuff. I guess we never noticed since our friends’ families were similar to ours. We each got just one “large” gift from Santa and a few smaller gifts. One of which was always underwear or socks. We didn’t notice what we didn’t have because we played with each other and shared our gifts. All six of us boys woke up by 4 AM Christmas morning to hold our “vigil” trying to guess what was in the wrapped boxes and being as quiet as 6 boys can be so we didn’t wake our parents up before 7 AM. The house was full of the smell of Mom’s baking. During the Holidays we visited our relatives. We loved seeing the train setups they had under their trees. We also enjoyed getting soda pop, pretzels and potato chips we rarely got at home. They were a luxury we couldn’t afford. I don’t recall a bad Christmas growing up. Its not just about passing time it is about making positive memories we can pass on to others.
This is a good time to look back at the past year and change what we don’t like. Don’t just pass time, make a point to be present to those you are with. Text messages, emails and social media can wait. This Holiday Season is a good time to take the focus off ourselves and focus on others. Use your time to make this a memorable and Happy Holiday Season for others. Use the time you are blessed with to make a positive difference in other’s lives. Thoughts to ponder.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
