How Precious is Your Time?

Do you ever wonder how limited and precious our time is on earth? I wonder that all the time. Most of the time my thoughts fly when I am sitting on a  bus and listening to music. Here I am again, on a bus going to the airport. The bus takes around 45min and you can't even believe all the things my brain goes through during those few minutes.

I go back in time, to the sweet memories and also to the moments I wouldn't want to think about, but again, I can't stop the flow of my thoughts. Now I am thinking of time. I have in a day 24 hours, 1 440 minutes and 86 400 seconds. At least 7 hours goes for sleeping, so I am left with 17 hours. In those 17 hours I am supposed to work, eat, travel across the town, eat again, perhaps see some friends and then come back home. We can fit in a lot for those 17 hours if we do it smartly.

Lets talk about work. I am 25 years old now and for the past 18 years I have studied; the Finnish education system has prepared me to the world. I am a graduate now and supposely ready to enter the market. Of course, I have worked during my studies but that work wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, it was work to earn money, to survive and most importantly I needed to earn money so that I can feed my hunger for shopping (every girls' problem). I need to emphasize one part: I worked, meaning spent my time, meaning sold my time for an amount of money because I needed to not because I wanted to. This is the part I want to discuss further.

Thus I could say that for the past 7-8 years that I have worked during my studies was waste of time and not what I really wanted to spend my time on but since I didn't have other choices, it was perfect then but what about now. Now that I am supposely ready to offer my knowledge and use my skills, do I really need to work for the money or can I work in a place I love to be, do something I am good at and with all this smile every morning because I am happy. I think Yes.

We can't sell our time, we can't define how much our time costs or we definitely can't compare our time with the amount of money we receive. Hence, I don't understand when we compare how much a woman earns money in India and a woman that earns in Australia (as the picture below can show the difference is huge!). What I want to share is that to the world we all have only 24 hours in a day hence to everyone its the same clicking clock even though for some the clicking clock is more expensive and for others it is a matter of surviving and earning enough to feed their family.

 

I don't want to preach about obvious things but I want everyone to think of time. We shouldn't sell our time for money but instead we should give our time because we want to and even if that given time isn't what you really wanted, then try to see a postive side of it. That clicking clock will never go back, every second is a wasted second or if I may correct myself every second gone is a second remembered -this is the mentality we should keep in our daily routines.


Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. ”
― Coco Chanel

 

 

Knock on that Door!

"Knock, Knock.." 

"Who's there?"

"Your dream employee."

Its almost 10 o'clock, 9.59am and  I am running just so I won't be late. It's Monday and I'm supposed to have an interview in a place I cannot even locate on a map, yet I calculated the timing wrong, I'm lost, breathing is suddenly heavy. Just when I am about to cross the street, I see the right number. Building 35! "

"I've been looking for you, thank god I found you! Gossshhh, 1min left!"

I ring the door bell, I try to cool down my breathing because I don't want to seem to anxious and I had to quickly fix my jacket and also hair. Imagine doing all that in a rush. I even forgot the perfume! "Piiiiiippp! the door is open and final steps to take before the big interview. I check which floor I am supposed to go and of course it's the third floor. The stairs didn't help at all but they gave me time to breath easy in and out. I tried my best to stay calm but I couldn't because I was too excited. Like it was my first interview. Well it kinda was.

I've been back to Finland exactly for 4 weeks now and since then I've done my best to find suitable jobs. Not just any job, I needed to find THE job. I have a life philosophy that I need to follow in order to stay happy and it goes like this " If I have to get a job, I better get a job I enjoy! I want to be excited to wake up everyday, I can't wait for weekend to pass so I can go back to my work and make a change. A job that matters and not just become one of the mass walking in black and white. I need to have a job where I can grow, learn and be happy!".

This is the first requirement when I look for a job. Some might say that it's being picky and a job is a job as long as you get paid. I say No! I don't live for money, money lives for me. Hence, I would much rather work in a place where I get half of the pay I would get from somewhere else as long as I enjoy what I am doing. If I have to spend 85% of  my time on work then I better do something that keeps me happy even on a cold and dark night. It took me 4 weeks, but I finally got a chance to prove my self! I believe its all about chances and opportunities, just as Eminem said "One shot, One opportunity".

I took slow steps but still heading up the stairs. I kept telling myself "You can do this, show them who you are and if they don't fall in love with you, its their loss". I knocked on the door and waited. A young gentleman opened the door, gave me a bright smile and right away introduced himself for being the interviewer. We shook hands, I introduced myself and all of a sudden all the excitement went out of the atmosphere. It didn't feel so scary anymore. Why? Because I felt like this is the place where I can grow as an individual, as a business woman. Everyday is a lesson, and the lesson is if we learn or not.

The interview lasted for more than an hour but it didn't feel so long. He told me about their company and after a while we started to talk about me, since I am the one who needs to convince them that I am their dream employee. For long I thought what should I say because I didn't want to sound too excited and be like "OMG just hire me, I am the best and I really really want this job". Instead I said if you are looking for an honest worker who thinks in a long run, is determined and knows how to think out of the box, well that's me.

You wrongly believe that we are supposed to give our employers a false picture of ourselves just to get the job but think in a long run. If you know you can't do something or you don't have a skill they are asking, don't lie just for today, be honest for tomorrow. Instead of telling them what they want to hear, break the chain and tell them how good of a writer you are, how well you draw and imagine situations when needed to find solutions. That's what I did. I gave them examples of my life, that has nothing to do with the actual job but tells a lot about me. An employer needs to know they can trust you and you can succeed in this only when you give them your trust first.

Being yourself is more than needed, it's crucial nowadays. We got mass, but we are missing individuals. Be that individual.

In couple of days I will let you all know if I got that job, but no matter what I know I did my best and our best is what is needed. One small thing before I stop Never be afraid to knock on the door of your dream job because you never know.. they might actually open it with a bright smile ;) !