You Become How You Spend Your Time
Do you keep track of how you spend your time? If you do you’ll know what you spend most of your time on.
“Time lost is never regained” is a popular saying we are all familiar with, and that’s why it is wise to spend more time on things that’ll positively impact our lives.
We spend more time on things we love and so it is almost unnoticeable to us that a huge chunk of our time has passed while doing those things.
Whether we like it or not, whatever we spend most of our time on automatically influences some, if not every area of our lives.
A man is worked upon by what he works upon.
—FREDERICK DOUGLAS
For example, if you love watching movies, that of course, needs your time, and you unconsciously start to talk, act, and even reason like the character you admire so much, without any/little effort.
If you love hanging out with friends, you’ll automatically become like them, in dressing, talking and even in how they reason; hence the saying: “show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.”
If you love watching YouTube videos, you’ll automatically start talking or acting like who/what you watch.
If you love reading the Bible, you’ll learn more about God and will become like Him.
If you love watching cartoons, you’ll start behaving like them – I think this is more noticeable in children.
If you love surfing the web (it depends on what you’re doing though) you’ll be influenced by the ideas and thought patterns of the posts of different people you’ll see on the web. This is why it wise to check on our children, especially what they do on the internet, because of their young and immature minds.
Read: You have a choice
If you like someone, you’ll want to know everything about the person and that needs your time. We may even start to ‘mirror’ their lifestyle unconsciously.
So, basically, if you love someone or something, you devote more time to them/it, and they/it influence(s) or change(s) you in some ways.
Actually, you decide what influences you and what does not. So when you give more time and attention to someone or something, this means you are indirectly giving them the permission to influence your life.
Time = life
Therefore, our lives are shaped by who and what we love.
You will definitely not be involved in, or enjoy doing something you don’t love – you’ll spend less time doing it and won’t even give it your full attention.
There are things we want to become, or achieve and we can’t achieve them if all we do is sleep, eat, watch movies, play games, and repeat. That is why it is recommended to pursue a career or relationship in/with something/someone you love because it will be easier than when you’re trying to develop an interest in, and learning to love something or someone you’ve never even been attracted to before. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t broaden your interest though. Anyways, let’s not digress. That’s a different topic.
Sometimes, it is hard to develop interest in people or things we know will influence us positively, because we know it will require our effort and we don’t like putting in effort.
You see, that is what differentiates an extraordinary man from a mediocre – “extra”. He puts in more effort than the mediocre does, and not just that, he puts that effort into the right people and things at the right time. He denies himself of the temporary pleasure he will get from binge watching, unnecessary chat with friends, aimlessly surfing the web, etc.
You decide whom you want to be with the way you spend your time.
Time spent on the right people and things = right kind of living.
Read: Our only hope
It is advisable that in whatever we engage in we should ask ourselves the following questions:
1) What activities do i enjoy?
2) Are they worth my time?
3) Do they propel me towards a better life?
4) How do I feel after engaging in it?
5) What impact does it have on others?
6) Does it improve me in any way?
7) Does it point me towards or away from God?
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