This has been an awful week with a lot of annoying situations. The good thing is, it has made me think about where I am putting my energies. Energy, like money, has to be focused. If you want to go to Europe for vacation, say, you have to cut back in other areas of your life and keep your eye on your larger goal. In the same way, how I spend my time seems directly related to the person I am. Life is made up of moment-to-moment actions, just like finances are made up of daily purchases.

I fill notebooks with lists. Not long ago, I went through a bunch of old notebooks before throwing them out. I realized that when I designed my time to pursue certain goals–music writing or wine writing, for example– a few months later, I had usually achieved what I set out to do. Sometimes it’s hard for me to connect grand ideas like What Am I Doing With My Life? with small, seemingly meaningless things like writing a list. But seeing the direct cause-and-effect reiterated for me how controllable everything really is, and how connected all the parts of my life are to each other.

I am thinking about this because one of my worst habits is to allow that which does not matter to take over my life. Most of the time they are fun, fivilous things like watching TV or too much socializing. It’s not that I have anything against the fun and the frivilous. It’s just that those things can be a way to procrastinate. The things worth having in life aren’t really that fun, but their rewards are deeper and more long-lasting.

So, if I believe how I spend my time in the end determines how I have used my life, I have to take it more seriously when these things creep in and take over. I have to think that it actually DOES matter if I read gossip sites instead of the news, or go out with friends instead of staying home and working. Time, like all limited resources, shouldn’t be squandered.