The Steve Miller Band sang about time “slipping into the future” in 1973.

That was 45 years ago.

Time is like that. It’s easy to lose track of. There was a day when people lost track of time reading a novel or walking in the woods.

Oh, that happy days were here again.

Now we lose hours on Facebook and days on Netflix. Time slips into the future, we don’t have a clue about the present - which leads is to regret the past and hate ourselves for it in the morning.

Time is a gift. We know this. We even kind of understand this. But do we?

It’s possible to focus well and get a lot done in an hour.

It’s surprising how much you can finish in 30 seconds.

Here’s the secret: You have to measure it.

Time is used best when it is being tracked.

Set a timer on your phone for 30 minutes. Or 10 minutes. Or 5 minutes. Turn off every other distraction and do one thing until the phone bleeps.

Set the timer and do it again.

This sort of practice will help with both focus - and valuing your most important, non-renewable resource.

“How we spend our days is, indeed, how we spend our lives.” Annie Dillard