Ironically, having or making the time to write this article this week seems to have been an issue. And like most of us when we say we don’t have enough time to do something, I’m not real sure why I had time issues this week. I certainly don’t feel like I got near as much done this week as I did last week. So it can’t really be that I didn’t have enough time.
At some point you have probably complained about not having enough time to do something. And, at some point some one has probably pointed out to you that you have the same amount of time as Albert Einstein, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Thomas Edison, Leonardo Da Vinci, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffett. Basically, what that person is saying is: you have the same 24 hours in your day as all those great people did or do, it’s just how you use or spend your time that makes a difference.
We have a choice in how we use or spend our time. I’ll bet most of us don’t make those choices consciously. Most of us make the choice out of habit or default. For example, when you got home from work or school did you turn on the TV or computer and just sit down in front of it and start watching some show or check email or Facebook and such? Why? Did you do it because that’s how you wanted to spend that time or did you do it because that’s just what you do when you get home?
Recently, I got really irritated by Farmville and the different stuff I had to deal with just to get to my farm. So I decided to stop playing the game and spend my time doing other things. Not long after that Facebook made a change that irritated me even more. At which point I decided I didn’t need to give as much time to it as I had been.
There is so much I want to do and so many projects I’m working on, and the one thing I really don’t have enough time for is to sit in front of a screen sucking in some mindless supposed entertainment.
We really do have the same amount of time as the likes of Albert Einstein and such, it’s just that these days there are so many addicting diversions. Maybe that’s how our leaders want it. If we all have our attention diverted to some mind numbing activity then we won’t have time to become educated, think and reason for ourselves, question our leaders, solve world hunger and the climate change problem, and find an alternative to fossil fuels. If we don’t have time to do those things then we won’t disrupt the Status Quo. I propose that in today’s society, the ultimate act of rebellion is to turn off the TV and leave it off for longer than it’s on.
I’m not saying that TV is bad, evil, or responsible for all the ills of our society, I merely wish to identify it as a device for stealing time away from us. It is not the only device for that. For all the good things we have gained with the Internet, we have also gained one more distraction. Seriously, how many times have you sat down to check your email, Facebook or look something up real quick only to find yourself still doing the same thing an hour, two hours, three hours later.
W really do have enough time to do great things and be great people. Do you want to be a beat up, rusted out bucket of bolts coughing and sputtering down the road of life or some precisely tuned, smart and smartly designed performance vehicle. Personally, I’d rather be the BMW or Porsche.
There really is enough time, it’s all in how you choose to spend it .
Edited to correct a misspelling.