Good morning fellow 365 Commitment folks! I am on vacation, this week. In times past a vacation was a stumbling block for me keeping personal commitments. I would take “time off” from everything and then end up taking weeks, months, and even years to get back into the swing of things. So this last year, I have made a point that rather then taking a break during vacation times, I would instead take some extra time and make an investment in my future.
So that brings up the topic of investing time. Most of us are aware that if we invest money now, our older selves will thank us for effort. The money will ease our burdens later in life when we cannot physically work as hard. So we can make small investments now toward our financial future. The same phenomena occurs with time. In my opinion, we have three basic choices with our time. We can wallow in the past, accomplish the present, or invest in the future. I am starting to view time spent as a savings account. I can sit around feeling sorry for myself that the money is gone, I can spend what I have now, or I can bank some extra time for future use.
Funny thing about time. If you take shortcuts and choose NOT to spend time on personal health now, you will probably be forced to spend a lot of time on your health in the future and probably not in a way that you are going to like. Same probably applies to family relationships. You can delay spending time with a loved one, like a child for example, but eventually that lack of time will cost you. Investments in relationships will always pay off in the future, probably in ways that you cannot even conceive of today. I have noticed that work is the same way. I of course need to spend a lot of time in the present, but I also need to spend time investing in the future. If I do, then future quarters tend to be better. So a good balance is enough time spent on the challenges of today, and plenty of investment in the future.
So how much time do you spend investing in your future self? This question really hit me hard as I started to consider how much time I spend either worrying about yesterday and/or solving problems of today. The very small investment in my future dreams seemed so small! However, I decided to try to change that with my new formed habit routines. At a minimum, I am now spending at least 2 hours a day investing in my future self. This takes a few forms. I am trying to create habits that focus on physical, mental, spiritual health. Albeit, many days I barely put in enough effort. Other days, I just drag through it. Then there are other days, like this morning when I do not have a lot to worry about that I make a serious investment and spend some solid time investing in my future self.
Not sure if this will be helpful or not, but you may want to take a moment and reflect on how much time you are spending investing rather then spending. Perhaps some of you are wasting time by dwelling on past failures. At any rate, I think a conscious investment of time toward your future self can have a tremendously powerful effect on your well being.
Guy Reams
365 Alumni
105 Days Left to 1st Marathon
