In sports, it’s possible to “save time.” In football, for instance, the team can spike the ball, run out of bounds, throw and incomplete pass, commit a penalty, or call time out. Time stops at the end of each quarter and at the two-minute warning. Preserving time is not only possible, there are several strategies to do so.
In chess competitions, the player moves quickly and “stops the clock” so he or she will have more time for future moves.
Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. In real life, there is no stopping the clock, so we must make the best use of each passing second because once it’s gone, it’s gone.