4 strategies to help make the most of your time

4 strategies to help make the fruchtwein of your time4 strategies to help make the most of your timeHow can I make the most of my time?We all wish we had more time. As the CEO/CTO of a growing blockchain company - RedPen - I feel this constantly.Not everyone treats their time the same way. Some people are conscious of time, while others are not. Some people recognize time as a finite resource - as something well eventually groe nachfrage out of, no matter who we are or what we do - and they value it accordingly. Deciding how to use your time means constantly weighing the perpetual opportunity costs and always wanting to trade time for something of value.Others dont.The truth is, time wasted is time you can never get back. For me, this is extremely motivating. It drives me to make the most out of every minute I have on earth - to be the best person and creative professional I can be - because one day, I know Im going to run out of those minutes, and I wont be able to get them ba ck.But making the most of your time can be challenging.Here are four strategies that will help.1 Schedule your days strategicallyIn general, I try and purposefully utilize every hour that Im awake.This requires being protective of my time. Its one reason I dont let an assistant manage my calendar. By deciding how I want to utilize my hours each day, I make myself more effective and more motivated. I prioritize what I best understand and identify as a priority. It amounts to being accountable to myself on how I determine where to spend my time.Of course, this isnt always easy. There are varying outside forces competing for my time all day. This is true for most people. But what motivates me is the awareness nagging at the back of my head that if I dont spend my time as purposefully as possible - if I dont treat my time like it truly matters - Ill be letting myself down.Scheduling my days strategically helps prevent that from happening.2 Reach for the stars, and even if you fail, yo ure still in the skyA key component of making the most of your time is motivation you have to be self-aware and driven to do it.For this reason, the things you spend your days doing have to be intrinsically motivating - pursuits in service of a larger mission or dream.Such pursuits arent easy, though. They often entail taking risks, and they demand a certain discipline. You need to be able to tune out distractions. Having that discipline is, in essence, remembering what you want.When you reach for the stars and attempt something so wildly challenging, even if you come up short, you are still in the sky. What this means is, you landed in a place where you have learned a lot, attempted more than you would have had you not challenged yourself, and you feel a sense of defying your norm. In taking this leap and making the most of your day - every day - you have to expand out of your own comfort zone to overcome fear, anxiety, and doubt. Recognizing you want to grow usually positions y ou in a place of vulnerability.And that, of course, is hard. In fact, one reason many people end up not making the most of their time is theyre unable to overcome the fear of risk or failure.But whats also true is this every person has it in them to overcome fear and doubt, which means every person has it in them to maximize their efficiency. Its a matter of persistence, bravery, and faith.3 Never stopYes, overcoming fear of failure and risk is critical. But what happens if you do fail?This is another thing that separates those who truly make the most of their time from those who dont when they fail, they keep going. They never stop. They make the most of every moment they have.Now is really the only time you have. The past is in your memory, and the future is in your imagination. Its pivotal to reflect and mandatory to dream, but living today with all you have and never stopping allows you to capitalize on now.Look, there are a million reasons why you might not be able to accomplis h whatever it is that you have platzset out to accomplish. But if you persevere through those setbacks - if you pick yourself up when you fall - youll prove yourself unaffected by them.The key, whatever youre aiming to do day over day, is to not quit. Dont succumb to the tide of rejection or perceived failure, and dont let yourself become distracted. Show discipline, and be proud.For the record, this shouldnt be entirely difficult - at least if youre passionate about what youre doing. If you truly care about what youre creating, or the family youre raising, or the mission of the company youre working for, youll feel an aversion to apathy and distraction from within. And that aversion will help drive you.When you ask yourself, why dont I stop? Thats what will answer your passion.4 Take the time to celebrate your wins and reflect on your journeyOf course, for as much as I say making the most of your time is easy (so long as youre passionate about what youre doing), it can still be tiring. Thats why Ive found it critical to celebrate my wins when they come and appreciate the journey if they do not.People who work hard and accomplish a lot dont do this enough. Personally, Im very critical of myself. From my work in the White House to building RedPen, I do not consistently recognize my own accomplishments but have benefited from reflecting and using that for inspiration to improve.This also has the effect of preserving my time. Each moment you celebrate becomes immortalized in your mind. They become memories that you can go back and revisit whenever youre feeling down.At the end of the day, making the most of your time is a matter of motivation, diligence, bravery, and passion. Its about finding what you love in life and using your time to do that thing as well as you can. Because thats the best way to spend your time - purposefully, in service of something inspiring. And now is your time.RJ is the CEO, CTO, and Co-Founder of RedPen, a breakthrough social news and storytelling platform powered by blockchain and AI. To learn more, visit meetredpen.com or follow on Twitter at meetredpen.This post first appeared on Quora.