By: Jacob Wellock
This may go without saying, but what is the most valuable thing in your life? It is my firm opinion that the most crucial thing in your life is time. Time is something that we continue to spend every day and every hour. It doesn’t favor anything or anyone and it no matter what we do, it will keep moving forward. It is your choice to move with it or get left behind.
I believe that in this life we are called to serve others and that it is our responsibility to be the best that we can with the gifts that we have been blessed with. It may take some longer than others to find those gifts, but none the less they are there. It may take some soul searching and it may take some incredible courage to go after something you may not have the confidence in doing right now. No matter where you’re standing or what you want to do, it is going to take time. It is going to take years to be great at what you want to do. It is going to take years to be the best family man and woman you can be. It is going to take years to make a difference to those around you. Investing in your time is the most valuable thing you can do.
All too often in this day and age, it feels impossible to block out the “noise”. The constant bombardment of information that we get with social media, TV, our peers. It’s hard to take moments for yourself to really focus on being the best you and how you plan on doing that. One of the biggest diseases that affects almost every single person today is, “I’ll do it tomorrow” or “I’ll start next week”. I was at church a couple weeks ago and the pastor said something that was very profound that really resonated with me. He was speaking about one of the most common things that people say to each other when they are asked how they are doing and that is “I’m staying busy” or “I’m too busy” and “I couldn’t be busier”. He pointed out that these things really take away from who we are as people. Almost as if we are on an assembly line and really forget who we are. That we get lost in this notion that if we aren’t busy, than we aren’t successful. Don’t get me wrong, accomplishing what you want in life is going to take a lot of work and in turn, you will be “busy”, but all too often I feel that people blindly seek it out. He brought up a quote from a pastor Adrian Rogers that had said “If Satan can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” I am a Christian and someone of strong faith, but even if you are not, the message stays the same. Staying and pursuing the idea of being busy is a disease to YOUR time.
With that said, if you are going to be “busy”, make sure you it’s for the right reasons where you make the largest impact. Everyone is going to be different. Figure out what that looks like for you and go after it. My challenge to you is that in your next conversation, when someone asks how you are doing, don’t just say, “I’m staying busy.” Everyday we wake up is day to gain and it is going to be a day lost. Make sure you allocate your days the best you can, so when there are no more to be had, you know you made the biggest difference.