I have been talking about time since 2002, that’s when I joined the family business. Back then, Trapper and I worked exclusively with Day-Timer, the original paper planner made famous in the 1980’s. Trapper was known as “Father Time” and I jokingly was often referred to as “son of time.” Fast forward to 2010.

It was approximately three weeks before my father passed away from cancer when we received the book’s first copy. We were working hard to finish it; we both knew we were running out of time. He opened the book to a random page and began to read. “Three incredible Gifts. Getting down to the basics, you need to realize that each day we are given three incredible gifts. They are the gift of time, without which activities cannot be executed. The gift of personal energy, essential for doing the activities. The gift of choice, to determine what activities we will do.”

He took a long pause, with tears in his eyes, said, “Cancer has taken all three gifts from me.” Three weeks later, on his birthday, he passed away.

I think about this often. When asked what’s the best advice I can give someone about time, it’s simply to not let time pass you by.

Trapper (1935-2010) enjoyed a career that spanned more than 40 years in the retail and service industry. In 1986 he joined Dr. Charles R. Hobbs to be one of his Time Power seminar facilitators. Soon after, Hobbs sold his company to Day-Timer, where he solidified his interest in the subject of time. Through the Day-Timer connection, he traveled 2.5 Million miles working with 350 corporations and organizations. During his time, he influenced tens of thousands of people worldwide, known as “Father Time.”

A professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), Trapper was the recipient of the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, the speaking industry’s international measure of professional platform skills. For 23 years, Trapper was a speaker and a leading spokesperson for Day-Timer. His engaging style resulted from his fundamental belief in the goodness inherent within each person and the value of diversity.

*This is a picture a Trapper and me when I was just five years old back when we had nothing but time.