Take Your Time But Don’t Waste Your Time

#TakeYourTimeButDon’tWasteYourTime

These words jumped at me immediately I saw them. It was one of the hastags Lupita Nyong'o wrote in her tribute to Chadwick Boseman. She had also credited him for those words, stating they were one of his favourite lines.

They quickly became a mantra that I would say over and over again, in my mind mostly, just trying to find my own meaning to it, to internalise it and to audit my own life.

This is what I have learnt:

There is a huge difference between taking your time and wasting your time, but often times, people mix them up. There are people who hurriedly do things, who want to build Rome in just a day, all because ‘they do not want to waste their time’. Some are simply lazy or unambitious and they hide their mediocrity under the guise of ‘taking their time’.

But it’s simple really. A lot of good things in life require great timing, and achieving greatness require you putting in the work, learning, taking the time to perfect a skill, while waiting for the right opportunity.

So while the unifying factor between the two phrases is TIME, what makes the difference is how that time is spent. If it is spent learning and perfecting skills, gradually building your ‘Rome’ knowing it cannot be built in a day, then you are taking your time. However, if it is spent idle, waiting for the big break, with zero preparation, at least where it counts the most, then you are wasting your time.

That’s my meaning, what’s yours?

Please take a moment to ponder, and share with me in the comment section what those words mean to you.