Talking to some friends after church last weekend, one commented, “As we get older, time seems to fly by. I can’t believe 2024 is almost over.” Time, is a great equalizer. We all have different talents and abilities. Some people have more money than others. We all have 24 hours in a day to use as we choose. No more, no less. No matter how wealthy someone is they can’t buy more time. We can only choose how we spend our time.

A few months ago, I was in the middle of business and phone calls when the doorbell rang. It was Bradley, my neighbor’s grandson who is now in middle school. “Mr. Kozera, do you want to come out and play basketball?” I responded, “Bradley, I’m in the middle of a few things.” I pondered for a second, looked at Bradley and smiled. “Get warmed up. Give me 5 minutes and I’ll be out.” Bradley said he was preparing for middle school basketball tryouts. We did some drills and then played one on one. Bradley got his workout. I did, too, and had fun. Turned out I needed the break and the exercise. The work still got done.

We got our family Christmas letter mailed a full week before Christmas. Typically, I’m mailing half of them the day after Christmas. The Christmas letter tells the high points of our year. — all the places we went and the people we saw or who went with us. Writing the Christmas letter gives us the opportunity to look back over the entire year and see how we spent our time.

We did long distance traveling to places like Germany, Iceland and Florida for business and pleasure. The real high points were the family and friends we got to spend quality time with. We saw our oldest granddaughter graduate from college and saw our grandson in Florida play one of his final high school soccer matches. He entered the Air Force after graduation. We went to Florida to see our first great-grandson a month after he was born.

No one knows how much time they have. Country singer Tim McGraw says in his song Live Like You Were Dying, “I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain Climbing, I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu, And I loved deeper, And I spoke sweeter, And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying, And, he said, Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.”

Having the privilege to work with executives locally and globally, I learned successful executives treat their time with the same value and respect as money. Because of this I learned to bring value to every conversation and meeting, even email. Value could be sharing an idea, information they can use, a connection from our network who can help them or by being a trusted advisor they can talk to. Shale Crescent USA wants to bring companies to our region to create jobs but it must make good economic, business and environmental sense for them. The decision to expand in the SCUSA is a long-term decision spanning decades. We must help them NOT sell them.

Time can be far more valuable money. We can find ways to earn more money. We can’t make more time. We can use money to make time for things important to us. My neighbor likes to cut grass. It is a change from his day job where he sits a lot. I don’t like to cut grass. I’m happy to pay him to cut our grass and use that time. It isn’t just about spending time. It is about memorable time. Life doesn’t give us many do overs.

This is a good time to look back at the past year and change what we don’t like. Don’t just pass time, make a point to be present to those you are with. Text messages, emails and social media can wait. This Holiday Season is a good time to take the focus off ourselves and focus on others. Use your time to make this a memorable and Happy Holiday Season for others. Use the time you are blessed with to make a positive difference. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a published author.