It’s About Time

When was the last time you were happy to see a pop-up ad? We’ve all been there — you’re visiting your favorite website or anxiously awaiting the page to load to read a fantastic post or article and BOOM! You have to wait 20–30 seconds while an annoying video plays before you get to experience what you wanted to see.

I don’t know about you, but the above scenario pisses me off every single time it happens. Even if by some random stroke of luck the ad is actually about something that interests me, I don’t care. It angers me, period.

How about commercials on TV? How do you feel about them? In fact, a better question would probably be — when was the last time you actually watched a commercial outside of the Super Bowl? Most of us don’t even watch “TV” anymore. We watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, our DVR’s, etc.

Even if I do happen to watch something live on TV I almost always pick up my phone during commercial breaks. My phone, iPad, and laptop are never far from reach. My phone is rarely ever even in a different room than I am at any given time. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that most of you are probably the same way.

The question is — Why is this? Most people believe that as technology becomes a bigger part of our lives that our attention becomes more and more erratic and it becomes harder for us to focus. While this can be true to a certain extent, I have an alternate theory.

Technology is constanty evolving and it’s making it possible for us to do virtually everything pretty much anywhere. With this ability comes a bigger emphasis on our most precious and valuable asset — our time.

Our time is more important today than ever before and it is the one asset that you can never get more of. We all have a limited amount of time and it’s how we fill this time that that is becoming increasingly more important.

Long gone are the days that civilization can’t reach you while you are in a vehicle. In fact, drivers are focused more on their phones these days than they are on actually driving.

With technology and the ability to do work, Facebook, Tweet, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. anywhere comes options. We have more options than ever and with these options comes great responsibility. We want to be able to do what we want when we want on our own time.

We don’t want to watch commercials anymore because we no longer have to. We would rather spend our time doing something else that we enjoy more than watching commercials, which is pretty much anything.

We don’t want to watch our favorite show at 7:00 PM on Tuesday evenings anymore becuase we can be doing other things at 7:00 PM on Tuesday evenings.

Plus, why watch one episode at a time, have to wait an entire week for the next one to air, and then have to wait through commercials on top of all of that?!? It’s much more convenient to wait until the entire season is released on Netflix and binge watch your favorite show over the course of a weekend.

Time is extremely valuable and what you do with your time matters.

We all worry about money, but we can always get more money. You can earn it, borrow it, hell you can even steal it. I don’t recommend stealing it, but it has been done before.

TIme on the other hand (pun intended), you can’t earn, borrow, or steal. You have a certain amount of time and you are using it every second you are alive. The only question is — what are you doing with your time?

Are you investing it in people and situations that create the life you desire? Or are you sitting around and letting it pass by? It’s going to pass regardless of which option you choose, so my recommendation is that you make the most of it and create something that you are truly passionate about.

In today’s world there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to be spending their precious time consistently doing things they hate. If you are doing things you hate everyday then stop doing them!

It’s your time, so spend it how it fulfills you. You owe it to yourself and also to every other human being on the planet. You are no good to yourself or anyone else when you are living as less than you can be. Living that way not only wastes your time, but everyone elses too.

Everyone has a lot of value to give, but you have to give it intentionally. You have to make a decision to spend your time doing things that you love and using those things to actively grow and contribute to others.

I’m not saying to be crazy and quit your job and spend your time playing video games or something to that extent. What I am saying is to start spending some of your free time developing yourself and your talents in relation to your passion.

Put the remote down, stop playing Candy Crush, and start making a difference. Consciously focus on how you are spending your time.

Time is our most precious and valuable asset and it’s time we start living like it.