The Time Bank and Self-Management

Imagine that each of us has access to a magical bank account. Everymorning, this account is credited with 86,400 seconds - exactly one day. We alone decide how to spend this balance. But there are two rules:

Rule 1: Unused seconds cannot be saved or carried over. Whatever we do not live, experience, or use today is lost forever. Yesterday is gone.

Rule 2: The bank can end the game at any moment - without warning. Suddenly, it can say: "It's over." This means that our lives can end at any time.

This simple idea reveals a profound truth: Time is more valuable than money. Money can be saved, invested, multiplied - but time cannot. It cannot be stored, bought, or increased.

That's why time management is not really about having more time. Instead, it is about something deeper: managing ourselves.

We cannot control how much time we will ultimately have. But we can control how we use the time given to us.

The real question, then, is not: How do I get more time? But rather: How do I want to spend my time - and thus shape my life?

This was one of the very first lessons I learned during my MBA studies, and it has stayed with me as a constant reminder that conscious use of time is the true essence of self-management and life design.