Waste, Investment and Dividends

“Time is the ultimate democracy. Rich and poor, young and old, male and female: all have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week.”

“Your time is your life.”

Elizabeth Grace Saunders, The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: Achieve More Success with Less Stress

“Some only learn the value of time when it’s too late!”

Stephen Richards

I feel like I haven’t written in days.  The truth is I haven’t… two days.  I haven’t written in two days.  Two entire days.  It feels like it’s been a lot longer.  My lack of writing may be the reason I have felt anxious today.  I need this.   I need to write.  It’s not just about my goal to write 25 blogs a month; it’s about my goal to stay focused and centered on all my goals.  One of my one-year goals includes writing professionally.  I know that in order to be a writer, I have to write.  And I have to write every day. 

I wrote my last blog late Monday night and published it early Tuesday morning.  That means I went all of Tuesday and all of today without writing.  And today is almost over.

So I’m writing now.

And I feel better.

I only have two problems at the moment:

1.     I don’t know what to write about; and

2.     I’m falling asleep.

Still, I’d like to get a few words written before my day ends.  I need this. 

The other day I realized something:  There are only two ways I can use my time – I can waste it or I can invest it.  Wasting time may look like this:

·      I’m on the Internet doing nothing productive.

·      I’m complaining.

·      I’m not doing something I love.

·      I’m gossiping.

·      I’m doing something that keeps me busy but doesn’t actually accomplish anything.

·      I’m doing something that doesn’t move me closer to my goals.

·      I’m allowing myself to be distracted.

·      I’m spending my thought life in rage, regret or hatred.

·      I’m spending my time in mindless entertainment that doesn’t actually entertain me, but numbs me.

I can also invest my time.  That might look like this:

·      I’m reading something that is relevant to my goals.

·      I’m actually doing the work I should be doing.

·      I’m tying to find the positive in something negative.

·      I’m being kind and loving to the people I’m with.

·      I’m having fun, genuine fun, as opposed to mindless entertainment.

·      I’m doing my work.

·      I’m doing my work.

·      I’m doing my work.

The beauty of investing is that I know that I will reap dividends eventually.  I just have to keep investing.  The more I invest, the more dividends I will receive.  While this may not always be true when I am investing money, it is always true when I am investing time.  I will always receive dividends.  Here are some dividends I may receive:

·      Increased self-esteem.

·      A body of work.

·      More expertise.

·      Joy.

·      Structure.

·      Something to look forward to with excitement.

·      Something to look back on with pride.

These dividends are some of the reasons I write.  I feel better for having written now.  I feel like I can stand tall again.  I really do need to do this every day.  I can’t skip a day and I certainly can’t skip two days.  I need to Get Started and Keep Going…every single day.