There's a popular expression in Africa that pokes fun at us: "Westerners have all the watches, but Africans have all the time."

Ana Weber, a relationship coach and financial executive, has learned how to stop racing against Time and become friends with it. You might be able to recognize yourself in the following story.

Ana Weber reached a point in her life where she felt miserable from past experiences and didn't have enough motivation or time to help everyone who needed her. In other words, she was living in the past.

Ana realized she could never be happy unless she went insane because she couldn't actually change the past. She was spending all of her time trying to relive her last conversation, yesterday, two years ago, etc.

Ana decided to do something different. Her first change was to make a solid, organized plan for her personal and home life and then prioritize every step. So she made lists on paper of short-term goals and long-term dreams.

She achieved a few of her goals but she had less time than before. She didn't even have time to celebrate before moving on to the next goal. Now she was living in the future.

Life in the future meant she could only be happy when (fill in goal)... and her "when" kept moving further into the future as she would near it.

Instead of enjoying her life, she was constantly thinking about the next project or about what she would say in the next conversation.

Ana decided to make another change. She liked the motivation she got by thinking about the future, but not at the expense of never enjoying now and killing herself with stress. She decided to treat time like a person and make it her friend instead of racing against it.

Ana spent time getting to know both Time and herself. It was like going on dates. The more she liked Time the more she respected it. By treating Time differently she actually is able to get more things done in less time when she needs to.

Tips to live now AND have a great future:

1. If you catch yourself trying to improve a past event, STOP.

2. Before you go to sleep, imagine a whiteboard with the highlights of your day listed on it, then erase it.

3. Think about who you would like to have good relationships with and how to develop those.

4. Go on dates with Time. Make sure you treat yourself well and give yourself some respect.

5. Don't try to be everything all the time. Wear imaginary hats for every occasion. Just one at a time. Take off the work hat before you go home.

6. Stop and smell the roses.

7. Spend more time on people than things.

Time is the most precious thing you can give another person because it is the only thing that you actually have as part of being alive.

Ana says, "Through my personal experiences and challenges, I've developed an incredibly intimate relationship with time. I love time. I have all the time in the world."

And so can you.