What if I said that a good way to value your time more is to do something you don’t like doing for an extended period of time? It sounds pretty ironic and confusing. I mean… why would you waste your time doing something you hate? Why don’t you just do the thing that you enjoy or love doing? But what if you can’t afford to do that yet? If you’re in that position, don’t worry – you’re not alone.
The genesis of this idea
This thought came to me as I reviewed my 2nd week back to working full time. I had just returned back to normal hours after working part time for 1.5 years. I didn’t realize how much less time I would have to work on my hobbies and career change. The less time wasn’t just from the loss of the 3-4 extra hours that I had from being part time. It also came from working less effectively due to mental exhaustion; a full day of work can do that to you…
When I realized I only had a good 3.5 hours (versus the 6-7 hrs I had when part time) to work on my hobbies, my mind starting thinking “Damn, I don’t have much time during the weekdays to do all these things. What would I want to do with my time that’d best serve my future self? I know I don’t like where I’m at right now. How can achieve my goals at this rate if I can barely spend an hour on each of my hobbies?” The more I thought about what I wanted to with my time, the more I started working on using my time more efficiently. So I started creating daily schedules for myself as a way to track and use my time more effectively.
Value of your time
When you do something you don’t like, you’ll end up spending time thinking about what you wish you could be doing or what you could be doing better with your time. And the more you think about those things, the more you’ll entertain the idea of actually doing those things. You perceive more benefits of doing those things over the thing you currently dislike doing. Because time is limited, how you use and value your time will grow in proportion to how beneficial your interests are. The goal is to spend as much time of your day or your life doing something you enjoy and that makes you fulfilled.
As always,
Be Confident. Stay Curious.
