In 1983, the legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant passed away. In his wallet was a folded piece of paper. It was titled, “The Magic Bank Account,” author unknown. It read:

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest. Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private account for you to use. However, this prize has rules. They are:

1. Everything you didn’t spend during each day would be taken away from you. You may not simply transfer money into some other account. You may only spend it. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400 for that day.
2. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time, it can say, “Game over.” It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do? Actually, this game is real…The prize is time!

Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is not credited to us. What we haven’t used up that day is forever lost. Yesterday is forever gone.

Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time without warning. So, what will you do with your 86,400 seconds?

Clearly, Coach Bryant recognized that if you waste your time, you will waste your life. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people get to the end of their lives and experience great sadness because they never actually pursued their hopes and dreams. They frittered their lives away on activities that had little value.

In Ephesians 5:16, the Apostle Paul says, “make the most of your time …” He is telling us to get the full value of your time, squeeze all the good you can out of every moment of your life. So how do we do this?

In all that I have read, there is one issue that has the biggest influence on how you allocate your time. Your priorities. The definition of priority is to care for something above other things. Wise people recognize what their top priorities should be and then build their schedules around these.

In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey shares how he had spent a great deal of time studying time management. He said the best thinking in the area of time management can be captured in a single phrase: “Organize and execute around priorities.” Doing this, you will always get the future you plan for.

Think about how you manage your life. Do you manage by crisis, by urgency, by what is easy, comfortable, or pleasurable? Or, do you manage your life based on wise priorities that are pleasing to God.

Think about it. If entertainment is a priority in your life, you will watch a lot of television. If gaining knowledge is a priority, you will spend time reading a lot. If your family is a priority, you will spend a lot of quality time with them. And if growing spiritually and knowing God at a deeper level (which Jesus says should be our top priority in life), then we will let nothing get in the way of seeking Him and spending time with Him.

I leave you with this final thought. Do you want to waste your time and your life, or do you want to live wisely and get the most out of your time? This is why we have to decide in advance what comes first in our life and which of our current priorities are of very little value.

Richard E Simmons III is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Executive Leadership and a best-selling author.