Time is the most valuable resource we have as people. How we spend our time now will determine what we do for the next fifty years of our lives. Since I am, by nature, an activator, one thing that I seem to experience is a lack of time. Over the past two summers I have spent many nights wondering what I was truly doing with my time. Then I read a book that would change my life forever: Essentialism. This book made me prioritize my life in a way I had never done before. I started looking at simple things that I did every day that were non-essential and cutting them out. I started to take control of my life again. When we see our time as valuable, we start doing valuable things with our time. I found myself doing more meaningful things. For example, instead of watching Netflix, I went for a run. Instead of listening to music on my ride home every day, I started listing to podcasts.
One of my favorite quotes in the whole book is, “If you don’t take control of your time, someone else will.” I think one thing that is very important for entrepreneurs to know is this: just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something. For example, just because you can be in five different clubs on campus doesn’t mean you should be in five clubs on campus. Protecting my time has been one of the most powerful lessons I have learned by being in the Engler Entrepreneurship program. I would challenge everyone who reads this to do one simple thing: invest in something that you believe in and something that lasts much longer than the four years you’re in school. Build a network of mentors and professionals, then build fast, build forward, and build cheap.