What is worth our time?

I heard a great podcast the other day that talked about the capacity of our minds to make decisions. If we can minimize the decision making in our life with some of the little things, establish routines, our minds are then freed up to focus. Focus is a powerful ally.

Every decision we make takes time from our day, and our time is a gift. Therefore, the less nonessential decisions we have to make, the more time we have. It is not valuable in a monetary sense; rather, it’s value lies in our impact in this life.

We can most benefit those around us by striving to the best version of our self.

To do this, we must invest. We need to feed our minds, bodies, talents, relationships, and soul. Investments take time to grow, and we want a return on our investment; actually, we want the best return on our investment that we can get.

I like to get up early. I like to have time to start my day. I also need a reason to wake up that’s greater than my job. I’m thankful for my job, but I also know that I will be useless at my job if I don’t bring as much of my whole self as I can each day. My greater purpose in the morning also needs to go beyond just allowing time to eat breakfast, make lunch, and get out the door. I wake up with the dawn because there, I find inspiration.

I want as much of each morning for prayer, exercise, writing, meditation, songwriting, or anything else that makes me come alive as I can get. So, to do this; I need the little tasks such as making breakfast and lunch to be as quick and easy as possible.

Here is a small example: I have found that minimizing the number of options for food throughout my work week has reduced the morning food decision making drastically. It has also made me more intentional about what I will be feeding my body.

Instead of looking through the cupboards and fridge each morning, wondering “What do I feel like eating right now?” or “What will I feel like eating at lunch?”, I have made those decisions already. I am going to eat one of two breakfasts in the morning, and I will likely have the same few options for lunch through each workweek. This allows for me to prep my food before the work week begins, and it has given me back precious time.

What do we gain from these extra minutes here and there? We gain peace of mind, a calmer mind. And in that calm mind, we find inner strength:

“Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.” – Dalai Lama

Another key factor to the strong and effective mind is contentment. We must learn to say “This is good” more than “this could be better.”

All the little things add up, so make those little things count.

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” – Henry David Thoreau