Weighing your choices
Have you ever found yourself complaining that you don’t have enough time? That you couldn’t do something because you were busy doing something else?That you don’t have enough time to spend with your family because your day is so tightly packed?
The majority of us have the capability of flipping these questions around because all these are just consequences of our choices. Our actions tell us what the real story is despite what we really want to do. What we choose to do in our spare time is what we value in reality.
And it’s really funny because our minds play a funny game when it comes to associating time, money, and effort with different things.
When you’re watching a show, a one-hour episode feels like it flew so quickly but spending an hour sitting with your parents feels like a thousand years. Spending around 1000 bucks on your subscriptions is a no-brainer but spending the same amount for the gym needs so much convincing to do. In fact, we are willing to buy a packet of chips every single day but not enough healthy cereals which could probably last the whole month.
We’re willing to spend around half an hour on social media because it’s our “me” time but we’re not willing to spend even 10 minutes on something like meditation because apparently, we don’t have that much time. We would be willing to spend on expensive dinners saying it’s a much-needed treat for your hard work but we hesitantly spend even half of it on art classes, therapy classes, or anything that sounds like hard work. We’re willing to write letters and appreciate the people we want to impress but do we remember the last time we were willing to do the same to the people we already know?
The reason why most people fail is that they give up what they want most to get what they want now.
I know what you must be thinking. You’re thinking, we choose to do something because it makes us happy. Why should we compare everything we do so deeply and complicate life. What I’m trying to convey is that the things we value are possible only if we act on them.
Is it ‘I don’t have enough time for that?” or rather, “I don’t want to make time for that?”
Every day you wake up, you have a choice to make. If you want to run a 5km marathon, would you train with someone who prefers to lift weights, or would you train with someone who prefers running? It’s all about growing together. We have been doing that since school. Put learning children together in a class, put dancers together in a dance team, put athletes together in a sports team. Put art students on one side and engineers on the other. Mixing them will not give the benefits that keeping them apart would do because their values are different. You might build a different perspective but your values, your core would still remain the same.
If you can’t find people that fit into your values, just ask yourself that when I find myself spending time with a person or group, do I move closer or away from what I want to be? The answer is clear to some while it’s fuzzy to others. But it’s a start.
There are no right or wrong choices. But the only person who knows which choice was the better one is you. In life, where we have so many choices, place on one side the choice that you’d make without much thought and on the other, a choice that you have avoided because it needs more thought. Both make you happy eventually. One does it faster than the other. But one also changes your life.
Weigh your choices and choose one that seems best suitable to your values. To a fitness enthusiast, it’s okay to hit the gym and eat junk because there is a balance on his weighing scale. But if he has a gym subscription and hits the gym only once while munching on all those snacks, he’s got some thinking to do. Because he values one thing but acts on another.
Just remember, everything is a consequence of your choice. Almost always, you’re unable to do something because you do not know how to balance it on your weighing scale. You only start a chain of excuses when you try to convince everyone that you do not have the time, effort, and money for it. If you really value something, you will find a choice that will lead you there.
PS: If you’re interested to listen to the audio version of this blog, you can find it in my podcast, Within 5 Minutes — https://open.spotify.com/episode/53SZiKpJ61Ep53MA3sRuPF?si=f1b5674d598846fc
