When I ask a group of people what they can tell me about time, the answers are almost always similar – “We don’t have enough of it – wish I had more.” More often than not we hear or use the excuse “I don’t have enough time” when we are searching for answers as to why we can not accomplish all of the things that we would like to in our busy lives.

Let’s think about this – how many hours do you have in a day? Or in a week? Hopefully you answered 24/7 (unless you are from Mars, where time is quite different than here on earth).

Fellow earthlings, the fact is that we all have the same amount of time…24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. Some people have achieved amazing results in their 24/7, like Albert Einstein the famous scientist of the 20th century, or Helen Keller, the deaf and blind child who learned to read and write.

Think of your idols, those individuals you consider to have made major accomplishments in their lifetimes. How about our recent Influential Women Award winners? They all have the same amount of time as the rest of us. So to say “I don’t have enough time” is false when what we really mean is that “I didn’t or don’t MAKE time.” The heart of the matter is that we can choose how we spend our time, and with some careful planning, we can make the most of our 24/7.

You may have heard the saying “Live each day as if it were your last.” Life is fragile, and can end at any second. If you waste today, you could be destroying the last day of your life. Here are some tips to get the most value from your time – today. (Use paper and a pencil to help you answer the following questions.)

Balance Priorities – Who are you? Define who you are and what is important to you. There are many possibilities for you in this lifetime, but what is important to you? What are your priorities at this time? For example, “I am a mother, a wife, a professional career woman, a daughter, a friend, a spiritual being…” We are busy these days so let’s decide what is truly important to us. Prioritize your list by placing the most important roles at the top. Don’t be too concerned with deciding what role is more important than the other, but try to recognize what your general priorities are.

Set Goals – Where do you want to go? “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Without some type of map, how do you expect to get where you want to go when distractions or interruptions drop in? Remember William Tell, the legendary patriot who was ordered to shoot an arrow through an apple set upon the head of his young son? How could he aim with such precision? How can you realize such focus in your life as a whole? How can you achieve a goal that you don’t even have?

Set your goals to be in line with your priorities. Write them down. For example, “My goal for the next year is to be more efficient with my time. Personally, to become a more attentive parent, spending quality time with my children when I am home; Professionally, to be more organized at work by listing what I want to accomplish in a year, in a month, in each and every day.”

Goal setting is one step. Action is another. The distance between goals and results is ACTION. Recording your goals and reading them daily will help you navigate through all the chaos, so that your daily actions will match your goals.

Live in the Present – What can you do right now to get there? We need to show gratitude for life by living in the NOW! Consider for a moment how much time in a day that is wasted worrying about yesterday…or tomorrow. Why waste a thought mourning yesterday? Can sand flow upward in the hourglass? Can we take back the pain that was caused, or the errors that were made? No! yesterday is buried forever. Neither shall we be concerned for tomorrow. Is next month’s mortgage due today? Can I perform today’s deeds while standing in tomorrow’s path? Shouldn’t we use today to do the things that need to be done today?

With your goals and plan in place, create your daily to-do list and focus on completing the items with your time each day. Stay focused on your goals. When you are at work, be focused on work, and do what you need to do today to accomplish your work goals. When you are home, be at home, focused on your family life. Making a clear separation between your professional and personal time provides you with a better quality of time to spend at each. Focus helps us make effective use of our time.

We need to value our time as priceless. You can squeeze more out of your life by effectively using your 24/7. People who have used these tips have experienced up to two additional hours per day. That’s eight percent more in a year. What would you do with an extra seven weeks?

I’ve heard that “Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a gift – that’s why it’s called the present.” I encourage you to become The Greatest You, and get the most of your 24/7.