A few months ago someone sent me a link to “The Last Lecture”, which is a very funny, moving lecture by Professor Randy Pausch. As a result of incurable cancer he has only a few months to live and gave this lecture as a reflection on life. It’s brilliant, and very funny. It became a bit of a web “hit” and Randy became a bit of a celebrity in the States.

Anyway, he’s recently delivered a lecture on time and time management. If you’re like me you’re probably creative, self-employed (of sorts) and incredbly bad at time management – and very good at procrastination. When you’re your own boss it’s sometimes incredibly difficult to motivate yourself to get stuff done. Especially in this day and age where the web provides us with on-tap distractions 24/7.

But this lecture is so true, so real, and so poignant because the very fact that time is the only real commodity worth having is highlighted so starkly by this brilliant man’s position. I urge you to watch it. It’ll take you about an hour of your life (skip past the opening 12 minutes of intros) but will save you hundreds and hundreds of hours in the future. Whether you use these hours to be more efficient at work, or just sit in the sunshine with your loved ones, it’ll make you realise that time is the most precious commodity you have.