The best selling book on everyone's desk today is an appointment book and, to me, its blank pages are filled with excitement wondering what each day will bring. My appointment book of choice is a Week-at-a Glance that has a quote over the Thursdays and I love quotations…

By the first week in January the birthdays and special occasions have been entered for the full year as well as events I want to remember. This particular week was very eventful: in '97 a grandson took his first steps, in 2000 my book, "ShowTime," was published, my friend's birthday is Friday and in '94 there was a 7.4 earthquake in Northridge where we lived at one time. And the quotation reads, "Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it." —M. Scott Peck.

Indeed…Time is very valuable and it is free to everyone. How we use Time is according to each of our priorities…or how much we procrastinate in our efforts to accomplish what we plan to do…or simply how well each of us plan our days in advance, filling each day with a list. If we don't write out our List how can we determine how well our day will be spent?…How much will be accomplished and how much time will be wasted? And…how much time will be spent with the people we care about…

Most everyone ended the year with great intentions to make the new year better for themselves, their families and/or their businesses and careers, yet I would venture to say that, for most people, nothing changed in their daily habits the past two weeks to make the changes possible.

What if everyone were allowed to BUY their Time, would they take better care of it? How would they spend it? Will another year go by without their dreams fulfilled? Time is freely given to all of us; some are given more Time than others…but the amount of Time each of us receive is not as important as its quality.

The first half of the first month of the new year has passed and as I reviewed the two weeks I found a blank day and wonder what I did that day…that 24 hours of time I spent without a scheduled plan. And what happened in the two weeks to the plan to lose weight this year? I weigh the same today as on the first of the year. Did I intend to stop smoking this year? No…but it is a good idea. And, why are all the phone calls on the list to my friends and family not checked off?

Flipping over the pages to the first Thursday of February there is another quotation: "But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day." —Benjamin Disraeli. How many of us can count the sensations we experience every day…and the experiences of excitement in the quality of Time in our lives? Beginning today there will be no blank pages in my appointment book. This year my dreams will become a reality.