Time On The Shelf

I ran into Joey after not seeing him for more than 25 years. The last time I heard about him was on the news. He and a friend were driving drunk one night after celebrating Joey’s 18th birthday. They decided to turn off the headlights and use a camcorder to film what it would look like driving through the streets in the dark at high speeds.

At one intersection they decided to turn on the lights and at that moment a woman was pushing a stroller through the intersection. With no time to stop the camcorder caught on video the mother’s instinctive reaction to push the stroller out of the way as the car ran her over and killed her.

Joey ended up getting 10 years for manslaughter and was sent to prison. That was the last I heard of him until I saw him the other day. After I presented a breakout session for the Sleeter Group in Las Vegas Joey came up to me and asked if I remembered him. I had to say that I couldn’t place the well-dressed professional, and when he told me his name I almost fell out.

We had dinner that evening and he told me his story. Prison was the lowest point of his life because every day he had to face the fact that he tragically took another person’s life and had to sit in hell for years to pay for it. He felt shelved and oftentimes wanted to die. But it was at that point when he decided that if he took his life then life would have meant nothing, so he made the decision that he was going to use his time in prison to become a better human being whatever that meant.

While in prison Joey earned his GED, Associates degree in General Education, and Bachelor’s degree in Business. He learned trades in auto maintenance, welding, and refrigeration. He also participated in a number of 12-Step programs and mentored a number of the young kids coming through prison. Joey was released after serving 8 ½ years, and went to work for several mechanic and welding companies before he was able to save enough money to buy a franchise which he now owns. He is married with two children and every day says he is grateful for the time on the shelf he had to focus him on his life’s path.

Joey’s story taught me a lesson that there are places in life where you may feel shelved—a dead end job, an unfulfilled marriage, a hospital room—but if you take the time and use the time to your advantage, you can turn shelf time into an investment which could produce a sure reward for your future both personally and professionally.

From Joey’s story here are my recommendations if you feel that you are experiencing time on the shelf:

Journal

Writing a personal journal can be beneficial for a number of reasons. One of the main benefits you can get from jotting down your daily experiences is to truly achieve your goals. If you are writing about how you want to become a certified welder one year, then you can read back on this and rekindle the inspiration you had then to get started on your goals today. Many people forget that they had a certain desire before and lose interest as time goes on. However, when you can read about something that you wanted to do in the past and it still sounds like a good idea today, you can take the necessary steps to achieve your goals instead of just forgetting about them. Thai Nguyen lists many of the beneficial aspects of keeping a journal in his article for the Huffington Post.

Imagine

Using your imagination to come up with new ideas is very beneficial, especially if you are planning on developing a product that you can sell in the future. Many people think of innovative ideas or products that can help themselves or others, and then turn it into something that they can actually sell. Some of the most successful people in the world have attributed their life today to the little moments they spent daydreaming about new ideas. For example, will.i.am, a famous musician, claims that he has become even more successful by using his imagination to expand his talents and become involved in things other than music. He is now an investor, a consultant,an activist, an advocate, an entrepreneur, and many other things due to being creative and using his imagination. People can also use their mind to do other things as well, such as write a book or come up with unique party plans.

Mentor

Being a mentor or receiving mentoring from someone else can be extremely beneficial to both parties. The person who is guiding another can benefit from helping people by gaining knowledge and insight into other people’s minds after they have been dealing with them for some time. The person who is receiving mentoring can also benefit in many ways.

• Higher chance of success in life endeavors from being mentored by a person who is older and wiser.
• The ability to see situations from an outside perspective. Some people make unwise decisions that they later regret simply because they were unable to look at their situation objectively.
• Having someone who is of like-mind to speak with when having a mental block.
• Small failures are a part of most life endeavors, and you can benefit from being mentored by a person who has succeeded where you hope to in the future by gaining knowledge from the failures your mentor experienced along their journey.

Learn

They say that knowledge is power. This statement is true on so many different levels. If someone wants to come off as an educated person and be able to hold conversations about diverse topics, then they need to learn new things. Learning something new doesn’t mean that you have to take college courses; it just means that you need to expand your mindset and be open to new things. For example, the next time someone starts to talk about cities in Italy, you can hold a meaningful conversation with them and develop a good relationship if you have already researched some of the cities there before.

Hobby

Finding a good hobby can be difficult for some people to do, but it’s very worth the time and effort. A good hobby can help someone be more productive with their time, develop new skills, and learn valuable life lessons. For example, someone who enjoys building model ships will develop more skills with their hands, but they will also learn about perseverance, patience, and develop the ability to continue on going even though the situation is tough.

Exercise

Exercise is an important part of life, because it will help you stay physically fit. The better shape you are in, the longer you will live. Also, exercising will help you feel better, have more energy, and live a healthier lifestyle. You can also benefit from exercise because it will teach you to work through the pain and struggle. If you don’t continue increasing the amount of sit ups you’re doing, then you will not gain much muscle mass and your goal of having six pack abs will stay just out of reach.

So next time you are tempted to complain that you are bored or unhappy or unfulfilled—spending time on the shelf—you can turn your wasted time into investment time and do a GudeJob for yourself.