Time is power

A writer’s most valuable tool is time.

So, how many times did you press snooze this morning? Once, twice or three times or maybe ten. Perhaps you didn’t want to get up this morning to write.

There is nothing wrong with pressing snooze, certainly don’t feel bad about it, but just remember every time you press snooze you are gambling with time.

There is a fine line between waking up and getting up; getting up is being propelled by a sense of purpose and waking up is a blessing, not a choice. The only thing we are responsible for is time.

Time is power.

Use it to create something extraordinary. None of us are born creative geniuses, we only learn when we apply ourselves.

Our time right now is our propelling power to create, to write, to sing and dance and do all the in-betweens things that make us happy as individuals.

Cultivate the courage to differ. Bad ideas that exist are better than good ideas that have never seen daylight. Life is a series of experiments.

Apply yourself, and on the days when you are feeling unqualified, it’s simply because as an artist you are not everybody else. As a creative, learn and apply. Creativity is an advantage to discovering who we are as individuals and also what it is that makes us happy.

Every day I ask who am I, what do I want, why do I want it, because to come up with something original I have to be willing to do what everybody else won’t be willing to do. Do something different every day and it will become normal, so change before you’re forced to. Life doesn’t get better. It’s us who have to; as writers, musicians, poets and everyday stalkers of social media.

At a panel the other day I was asked, “what would you do with a million dollars right now?” and I replied, “where is the million dollars? Because I can show what I can do with it better than telling you about it.”

Here’s why you and I don’t deserve to just have a ‘million dollars right now’. It won’t do us any good. The most valuable thing to have inside our wallets is not money; it’s the hand-written notes stating clearly the goals and ideas we wish to accomplish.

Use it to experiment, to apply creative ideas; time is power and so long as you have the power, you decide what to do with it. Because when your moment comes, and it will come, don’t wish away a second.

Abe Nouk appears in Songs and Stories of Home at the Workers Club, Wednesday June 21. Book tickets here!