how you spend your time defines your life

“If you design your life so that you spend most of your time working on things you are passionate about and proficient at, the discipline to do those things comes easily.”

“Productivity is not about getting more things done; it’s about getting the right things done.”

― Michael Hyatt, Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less

A couple of thousand years ago, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote in his journal, “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” It’s wise to remind ourselves that we’re not immortal beings; our life is not infinitely long.

You won’t be here forever — let this truth motivate you to work harder and smarter. Every breath matters, every second counts! It’s not easy to keep the constraints of time in mind day in and day out, but it’s absolutely worth it. Let your finite time on this spinning orb propel you to get better and more purposeful at work. To not only get more done, but to also get the right things done as quickly as possible, so that you’re able to get back to living the way you want to live. 

According to several research studies, the average person loses three hours per day in mis-spent time. This means that there’s a great chance you might be spending those three hours every single day in doing mundane, meaningless work that doesn’t even need to be done by you. 

In his book Free to Focus, Michael Hyatt advises to stop doing things that you hate and spend your active time performing tasks that you love and excel at. This will lead to increased engagement and thus skyrocket your productivity. Essentially, you’ll be getting more things done, with more enjoyment and enthusiasm, in less time. Isn’t that awesome?

Ultimately, life is the sum total of what you decide to focus on. That’s why it makes sense to stop focusing on drudgery, and instead fill up your schedule with things that you’re passionate about. Here are nine steps laid out by Hyatt in the book to help you just do that:

1. Formulate: Decide what you want. 
2. Evaluate: Determine your route. 
3. Rejuvenate: Re-energize your mind, body and spirit. 
4. Eliminate: Strengthen your “no” muscle. 
5. Automate: Remove yourself from the equation. 
6. Delegate: Clone yourself — or better. 
7. Consolidate: Plan your ideal week. 
8. Designate: Prioritize your tasks. 
9. Activate: Overcome interruptions and distractions.

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