The Sanctity of Time – Illimitable Men

Self-Improvement

# The Sanctity of Time

April 26, 2016March 19, 2019by IM

“This is what you deserve. You could be good today. But instead you choose tomorrow.”
– Marcus Aurelius

Contents:
1.) The Philosophy of Time
2.) Drama Avoidance
3.) Create An Elitist Bubble
4.) Love The Grind
5.) In Closing / Relevant Reading

1.) The Philosophy of Time:

An ambitious man feels like he never quite has enough time, for vision is vast and time brief. A man who lives to achieve must thus do so constantly, for considerable gaps in productivity lead to self-loathing. A man who respects time disrespects himself for wasting it, his very reason for being tied inextricably to his productivity.

If an ambitious man is productive, he is happy, if he’s not, he isn’t; he doesn’t achieve because he wants to, but rather, because he has to. Such a man has no choice in the matter, but rather this is the way his life must be, for if his happiness were not tied to his productivity, his life would not be a life worth living.

Only a man without an appreciation for time is content to waste it, for absent ambition he is ignorant of the path forfeited. If the unambitious man could peek into the life of his productive self, he’d believe the greatness strewn in front of him were a con. Consumed by ignorance and unable to appreciate the relationship between greatness and productivity, the mundane man does not even dream dreams, let alone build them.

An actualised man bereft present or future achievement is a shadow of his former self, for achievement is addictive and ambition cruel. A man who’s given up is not really a man, he doesn’t feel like one and nobody sees him as one, for expectations of men are great and the achievements of such men, poor. Many struggle to optimise their time and few master the endeavour, but he who does not try or no longer tries is held in contempt by those who retain a respect for time.

To be an actualised man is not merely to have achieved, but to continue to do so; actualisation does not entail retirement, for a man’s work is not done until his time’s spent. Time is limited and ambition gluttonous, and so a man must separate the worthy from the unworthy, make firm choices, and live with them regardless of their retrospective efficacy.

A man cannot choose to spend time like he can money, for time answers to no man, spending itself until spent. Armed with the knowledge that time is spent regardless of one’s will, the wise man endeavours to spend it as wisely as possible. It is from this knowledge that the productivity obsession is born, born from the realisation that although one’s quantity of time is fixed, its quality need not be.

The ambitious man is all too aware of mortality’s brevity, and with a scope of mind that can tap into the infinite, he is compelled to lead life in the knowledge that nothing he does will ever be enough, but that to not even make the attempt is an act of self-betrayal.

If a man can optimise his time but his competition can’t, he beats the competition. If he and his competition have equal time, but he can do more with less of it, he beats the competition. We are all allocated an amount of time to do with as we see fit, but not all time is of equal quality. It is the man himself who determines the quality of his time, whilst chance determines its quantity.

The quality of time is determined by three core factors: vision, energy and focus. Absent energy a man cannot act, absent vision he cannot strive, and absent focus he cannot actualise. Master all three facets and the quality of one’s time vastly improves, lack even one facet and one’s potential escapes them. Vision alone is inadequate, and this is why many men dream but do not achieve. Vision bereft energy lacks the impetus to manifest, whilst vision bereft focus lacks the discipline to implement.

An underachieving man should pay particular attention to the three facets, and take the time to honestly introspect with himself. He should identify which aspect of his character is lacking, and form a plan of attack for rectifying the dysfunction.

2.) Drama Avoidance:

The internet contains a volume of knowledge beyond even one’s wildest dreams, and yet it is a sea of theatricism full of people violently competing for your attention. The average person’s self-discipline is inferior to the average narcissist’s lust for attention, and so in light of such a reality, one must exercise great care in who they apportion their time.

To be used effectively, the internet requires great discipline. The internet is an attention economy, and so histrionic narcissism sells, and sells big time. This is fine for average people, but a man who wants to become great has no time for such trivialities.

Drama is attention porn and junk information, it psychically robs a man of his focus and time the same way junk food robs it physically. People who create drama do not care about your struggle to be a better man, they are all too happy to take the time you need to build yourself to build their brand. Do not let them.

A man’s time is valuable not only to him, but likewise to those who would prey on his emotions to monopolise his attention. Fortunes are built on capturing attention, and the easiest way to do this is through drama. Everything costs a man time, but not everything gives him value for his time. If productivity is about enhancing the value of time by doing things that enhance the practitioner, then drama at best gives a man nothing for something, and at worst ruins his mental state with no pay-off.

Drama creates hysteria, and hysteria’s real value is to serve its master, not the pawns that it consumes and controls. As such, the optimisation of one’s time all but necessitates the avoidance of drama, great men create drama as a strategic gambit, but they are not pulled into the webs of others.

3.) Create An Elitist Bubble:

It is important for a man to filter the information he consumes, for he becomes what he exposes himself to. If he watches mediocrity, reads mediocrity and discusses mediocrity, then he is destined to be mediocre. When stated so plainly it seems obvious, but in practice it is typically anything but.

A man should not only avoid the dramatic, but likewise the low value. Average people are a drain because the average are mediocre, they have no thirst for greatness nor vision, and thus an aspirational man has not even the slightest hope of relating to them.

Average people aren’t going anywhere in life, so they deify trivia to keep themselves distracted. When a man is not building a life, he is busy commenting on how other’s run theirs; this is a manifestation of the consumer/producer mentality that distinguishes winners from losers and these are the type of people you want to avoid.

The average are fuelled by triviality, but the great do all they can to avoid it. The reason it is so difficult to avoid the trivial is because the average are numerous, and triviality is their prime interest. To become great you must avoid triviality, and in order to achieve this you will find yourself becoming more elitist in your associations. As the standards you hold yourself to rise, so do your standards of others, those who no longer meet the bar must be left behind, lest they drag you back.

4.) Love The Grind:

Unaccomplished men have a tendency to complain about how difficult it is to improve instead of using the energy spent complaining on improving. The trick to grinding is to enjoy the grind. If a man enjoys doing something productive, it doesn’t feel like work and thus he performs better than if he looked at it as work. A man should always go into something with the idea it better completes him to do it, that in doing it he gains, and that gains require effort and effort is normal.

It should be a man’s goal to mentally reach a place where he’s so in love with the game he can’t imagine doing anything but playing it. This is in contrast to those who avoid the game because they fear it, a full conversion from escaping into the mediocrity of pop culture and entertainment, to reading, lifting, networking and creating.

Emotions dictate a lot of what a man does and doesn’t do regardless of how weak or strong his logic is. A negative perception of a task makes it subjectively difficult regardless of whether said task is objectively difficult, as such a man should construct positive perceptions for difficult tasks if he seeks greatness.

5.) In Closing / Relevant Reading:

A man can build himself a great life only if he pursues the difficult and relishes the pain of challenge. He should not waste time on regret, as although one should not aspire to squander time, they should forgive themselves for doing so; punishing one’s self for past frivolity is an act of present frivolity – carpe diem.

Book(s):

Mastery

Blog:

Champion’s Mentality
Monk Mode

If you have a problem you wish to discuss with IM, you can [seek a consultation here]

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## 29 thoughts on “The Sanctity of Time”

1. Pingback: The Sanctity of Time – Manosphere.org

2. vision, energy and focus.
   In hospital have a bunch of books i wanna read. Will use time to learn and red a few books to help me improve.
   Working an a model to help heal people who have dealt with trauma.
   Way to keep one self in check…

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3. Beautifully said, beautifully written.

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4. Systems are always executing, whether managed or not.

   Adopting efficient decision making is the most important way to 80/20 your life.

   Phenomenal post.

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5. As someone that loves what you write, this had to be your worst article in terms of grammar, format, and word choice.

   Looking forward to future content.

   >

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   1. Not true Alex. Read it again undistracted this time and you will uncover so many gems (in all areas you criticised) in this piece.

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   2. Totally disagree with Alex G.
      If you read this post and all you can do is complain about grammar, format and word choice then you’re obviously missing the point BiGtime because that is the trivia he’s writing about.

      This article is so jam-packed it’s like an entire quality selfhelp-book in just one posting, reaching way beyond the (usual) man vs. woman social dynamics.

      This is deep inner game.

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   3. What is important is the TRUTH and Contents, not the container.

      The Purpose of this article is about the quality and efficacy of our time and life.

      If this point is missed by you. You need introspection.

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6. It is very important for readers to understand what time is.

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7. Beautiful piece and extremely quotable. I read it three times already.

   I also like how you indirectly criticize all those attention-seeking bigots whose whole life revolves around the creation and fostering of drama.

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8. One of your very best pieces!
   Much along the lines of Wall Street playboy’s articles; though more elegantly written

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9. It feels like you’re speaking directly to me. I have vision and energy, but lack focus.
   Even your other articles can capture the essence of what your readership needs. Well done.

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10. Well written piece.

    I enjoyed the section about avoiding drama. You can also keep on this thread by saying that a man should avoid real world drama as well. At work, avoid the office politicking, avoid the water cooler talk which has become a general gossip discussion point. In life, avoid drama that your plate, LTR might create. Women tend to complain about the smallest, most insignificant things and create drama around it to get more focus on them. Men must avoid this.

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11. WTF, who even notices minor grammatical errors, the meat of this post had me more than captivated.

    All through this post I had a nagging thought: Law #10 Infection: Avoid the unhappy and unlucky.

    “Drama creates hysteria and hysteria’s value is to serve it’s master, not the pawns that it consumes and controls”. This quote brings to mind all of the Black Lives Matter hysteria, and college rape hysteria, etc. Very educational, I’ve a better understanding now of how hysteria serves our political masters and overlords. It seems from my perspective, feminists, liberals, and media have mastered the art of “hysteria”, and manipulating the masses. I’ve read somewhere that Obama (and many others) use Nazi-era propoganda tactics quite effectively.

    Another great post IMan, always look forward to the next one!

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    1. There is also the drama that is whipped up by narcissistic white trash who engage in race baiting, in order to feel that they are pulling other people´s emotional strings, and displaying their weak “dominance”, ie., they may not be worth much, but at least they are white, and they are gonna let everyone know it…

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12. On points 2, 3, and 4 I couldn’t help but think of the idiom, “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas”

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13. Yes.

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14. You’re my role-model.

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15. Thanks for providing value through this motivating and insightful entry.

    Particularly insightful were the 3 elements of Quality, a good definition of productivity (although sometimes just having a good time through something “low grade” can be productive through relaxation and spirit elevation, the fact that we need to avoid trivial influences, and that we must use emotional talent ( self motivation) to accomplish our tasks in a zen state

    Reply

16. This is the best article of yours that I’ve ever read (and I’ve read most of them). Printed it off, went for a walk and read it in its entirety, much of it out loud.

    The last line, “punishing one’s self for past frivolity is an act of present frivolity”, really resonates. Thank you for publishing content like these; please don’t ever stop.

    Reply

17. > A man cannot choose to spend time like he can money, for time answers to no man, spending itself until spent. Armed with the knowledge that time is spent regardless of one’s will, the wise man endeavours to spend it as wisely as possible.

    Solid quote. Saving that one.

    Reply

18. Very well written and inspirational. I’m slowly increasing my workload transitioning to a new field. Your point about enjoying the grind is something I will keep in mind. Thanks for the post.

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19. I love it, i am going to put this in my own words add it to my manifesto, print it and read it often

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20. A man’s present state in life is the synergic result of his past choices ranging to the present, how he has chosen to spend his time over the years.

    Your time is the most important commodity you’ve got an as such you must make a commitment to the continual optimization of your time.

    Reply
21. Pingback: El valor del tiempo - Seductivamente atractivo

22. Excellent writing.

    Reply

23. i learned my lesson on time as a very, very young man. my elders often reminded me… “don’t let anyone waste your time…not even the man in your mirror.”

    Reply
24. Pingback: What To Learn And How To Learn It – These Are The Questions – Modern Machiavelli Consulting
25. Pingback: Zamanın Kutsallığı – Erkek Adam

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