I wish I could do that. I wish I had the time for that. If I had more time, I would love to chase me dreams. If I didn't have to work all the time, I could really get something done. If I just had more time in the day I could do that. I would love to do that, but just everything else is in the way. Blah blah.
Shutup.
I hate to be harsh, but let's be real; no one has enough time. For many of us a time the easiest scapegoat to the question of why we don’t do something. So because I’m OCD and cannot help myself, I did the math:
That’s 72. Seven. Two. We have seventy-two hours to do whatever want. Anything. Most people choose to eat, drink, be merry, watch television, “relax”, or some other meaningless entity with the majority of that time. Yet those same people decide they don’t have enough time to do what they love. Now, I realize that many of you have families, that you feel you don’t get enough time with, often spending time with children is very important, but it’s still not an “excuse”, it should be a priority.
It’s become increasingly difficult for us to really buckle down and do something that matters with the time we have because our attention has become very valuable. And because our attention is valuable, there is an ever flowing river of things that desire to have your attention, and often we’re such suckers, we give it to them. Advertisers realize how valuable our attention is, which is why they saturate us with commercials between the best parts of our favorite shows. Facebook doesn't take your money, but it isn't free. Fantasy Football exists only to subject people to more advertising while people aren't watching real football. It’s why we endure 10 seconds of a lame add before a youtube video with a ton of hits.
Nothing is free. Sure there are things that don’t cost us any money, but in a lot of ways our attention is more valuable than money. Apps can be free but “add supported” by the selling of your attention. Broadcast television is free, because they sell your attention to advertisers. We’ve become so immune to it that we almost don’t realize it.
The Internet hasn’t helped, because it’s given us an infinite amount of ways to distract ourselves from what we desire to be doing. In fact, as much as I hate to admit it, you reading this right now is probably distracting you from doing what you wish you were doing (sorry about that). However, with incredible tools like the Internet comes a new responsibility and discipline to stay focused. Many are not aware of how they are wasting their lives doing nothing, but those few who see how much of their 72 hours are being stolen from them are quite aware.
When you come to the realization that everything (literally everything) wants to keep you from doing what really matters, you have an amazing opportunity to learn something about yourself. Take a step back and learn what you actually want to be doing and ask yourself why you aren’t (or haven’t been) doing it. Learn what distracts you most, avoid it. Then work your way backwards from there. A disciplined life is invaluable to those who have a passion inside. But passion is only a potential unless it is acted upon.
What are you doing with your 4,320 minutes that are yours each week? Now ask yourself what you could, should, or want to be doing? It’s not work if it’s your passion, it’s just the means to a goal, and that’s the best use of time that there is. Fight the resistance, if you don’t it always wins.
Do something you love. Do something that matters. Our time is finite, make the time you have count and give it a purpose.