Haphazard Observations

The leaves are all changing, and the green grass is covered with the remnants of summer. Another season in the books.

The common sayings “I can’t believe the year is almost over” and “Time flies” are starting to make the rounds again. We all know intellectually that what we do today produces tomorrow, but in the day-to-day throes of life, it’s difficult to keep that longer-term goal in mind. It seems that we’re simply living each day to survive it, only to look back at the end of the year and start muttering those familiar phrases.

It sounds so “self-help” to talk about goal setting and breaking longer-term goals into smaller, achievable ones. However, what I’ve found is that actually living that way is WORK. It takes determined, structured effort to consistently pay attention to where you’re spending your time.

I heard this saying today from Joyce Meyer: “We use our time now to purchase things for the future.” That was such an interesting way to phrase it. To view your time today as currency. What are you spending it on?

It’s easy to think in terms of money. Where are you spending it, and is that serving your bigger purpose? But what about your time? “Spending time” is a common phrase, but I don’t think we ever really think of it as spending currency.

So, with that in mind, what are you purchasing with your time? Do you have a budget? Do you have long-term purchase goals? Are you investing? Are you even balancing your checkbook? Are you taking inventory of how you’re spending your time and making sure it’s a wise purchase?

How much are you investing in scrolling, for example? And you may be investing your time in things that aren’t necessarily “bad,” but they aren’t purchasing anything for your future that you say you want.

If you look at today, and the 24 hours in it, as currency to purchase something for tomorrow, how would it change your behaviors?

If you invest three hours in scrolling, that could produce a sense of rush, hurry, and stress tomorrow because you didn’t get the things done around the house that you had hoped to. If you invest one hour today by going to bed earlier, you could be purchasing better health through good, solid sleep.

All of this is easy to say but so hard to do. It has to be such a deliberate, daily choice about how we’re investing our hours.

I’ve found that if I don’t keep my longer-term goals, and frankly, even my shorter-term weekly goals, in front of my face daily, they quickly disappear into the chaos of living. But if I take even 30 minutes in the morning to simply look at them, it keeps them at the forefront of my mind and makes it much easier to naturally choose to invest in things I actually want in my future.

I love instant gratification, and this whole concept is NOT that at all. It’s the seemingly insignificant tasks that are required daily that will purchase what I want the next time I see the trees shed their leaves.

I want to be able to look back at the previous season and think, “Wow, yeah, I did that. Holy cow, it actually happened!”

That’s what I want, not the feeling of regret and sadness that, in the blink of an eye, another year is gone and I’m still where I was last year.

You don’t have to wait until January to instill some sort of change. If you were wanting to save up for a large financial purchase, you wouldn’t say, “I can’t wait until January when I can start saving.” No, you’d start today, whatever day that was.

So, start today. Do something with your time. Even if it feels insignificant today, do something to invest in what you want to purchase in your future. Then look at that daily and keep doing it.

In the blink of an eye, we’ll be back here next year, and you’ll be so glad you invested wisely.