Making the Most of Your Time

I wrote this in response to another blog article that I read recently and felt it was worth sharing here as well.

The balance between stuff and a sense of purpose is one I've been struggling with for some time.  Perhaps, though, it would be more accurate to say the balance between mere entertainment and time well spent; because time well spent creates a sense of purpose and fulfillment, and while "stuff" often falls into the entertainment category, one can waste time just as easily without wasting money too.

The solution, I'm finding, is to clearly identify for myself what I want to accomplish in life.  We only get one, and the time allotted to it is limited, so how we spend time during each day either gets us closer to our goals, or it doesn't.  I think Meatloaf says it most succinctly in Out of the Frying Pan . . . "If you're only killing time it'll kill you right back!".

At first I had to constantly ask myself every time I looked for something to do whether the task would get me closer to one of my goals or not.  It's still a struggle, it's only been this year since I've been working on this but now when I think about sitting down at the computer or the TV the thrill of entertainment just isn't there in most cases.  Instead, what I really enjoy is doing those things which move me closer to my goals.

It is important to note that the piece that had been missing from the puzzle, for me, was that I needed to identify not only my goals, but the steps (to the smallest level) that needed to be taken for me to eventually arrive at the goal.  To realize that it would be a journey, and that the goal would not be realized overnight, in a week, a month or a year even; that I had to keep taking those steps, or the goal would ALWAYS be the same distance in the future.  And if you wait long enough, that distance into the future will surpass your lifespan.