HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HAVE LEFT?

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 I found myself thinking about time recently—not in terms of hours or years, but in terms of cycles.

Not “How much time do I have?” but “How many more times will I get to do the things that matter?”

It’s a question that hit me harder than I expected.

I realised that when I look back at the things I say I want to do, taking trips with my wife, catching up with friends, improving the business ideas I have already started, and even doing more for my daughter and people I care about, I haven’t done most of them as often as I thought I had.

In some cases, I had only done them once. Or not at all.

So I started asking myself:

  • How many times did I meet friends or relatives—intentionally, not by chance?

  • How many times did I go out on holiday with my wife?

  • How many times did I spoil myself, without guilt?

  • How many times did I deliberately work on a business idea?

  • How many times did I say, “One day we will have that braai,”… and never did?

  • How many reunions have I been talking about but never attended?

And the answers were uncomfortable.

The Pattern: Time Isn’t What We Think It Is

I discovered that many of these things didn’t happen, not because I didn’t care, but because I secretly assumed they would happen someday.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought life would eventually “make space” for them.

But time is deceptive.

When we think in years-“I have got plenty of life ahead”, we create the illusion that we will eventually do the things we keep postponing.

Yet here’s the truth that shook me:

If you do something once every ten years, then you don’t have ten more years to do it again…
You only have one more time.

If you haven’t started that business, taken that trip, or had that reunion in the last 5 or 10 years, chances are you may continue not doing it.
The pattern of your past behaviour predicts your future behaviour more than the number of years on the calendar.

We often count our lives in years, but we rarely count the iterations — the actual number of times we do the things that matter.

And life is lived in iterations.

The Lesson: Count the Times, Not the Years

Instead of asking, “How much time do I have?”, I have begun asking:

“How many more times will I get to do this?”

Because the truth is, we don’t act on every day that comes.
What shapes our experience is not the number of days we live, but the number of times we repeat the things that matter.

Look at your own trajectory.

If you have only travelled once in the last ten years, how many more times will you realistically travel before you are too old—or the person you want to travel with is too old to enjoy it?

Three times?
Four?
Maybe fewer?

If the only time you go out with your spouse is on birthdays or anniversaries, then you really have two opportunities a year.
Two—no matter how long you both live.

The more we believe we “still have time,” the more we procrastinate on the activities that give life its meaning.

So maybe the shift we need is small but powerful:

Stop counting the years.
Start counting the times.

What is one meaningful activity you want to increase—not someday, but right now?

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