Not Spending The Time on What I Love

I am not spending most of my time on that which I love the most.

This is a bit of a puzzle when I think about it for a minute - after all, it time is a resource and there is a limited amount of it, it would stand to reason that one should spend it in such a way as to maximize its value in my life.  In a sense it is like money - there is only a certain amount of it that (or most of us, honestly) will make so we should use it it the ways that benefit us the most.

But that is hardly the way it seems to work - really with money, either.  Instead, the bulk of it goes to the necessaries of getting by and the small fringes go to the things that I truly love.  The reality is that I often have no time for that which I love - or honestly, what truly helps me - and more time than I would like dedicated to things that at best keep me in the same place.

 I suppose that I have had some sense of this preciousness of time and the dichotomy of its use versus my preferences for many years now, having (at least since college) some sense of needing to be doing something important or useful with my life.  Even that has become a struggle as I look at the general shape of my life and question how the time spent is truly doing good.  Add to this the fact that most of my time is hardly spent doing the meaningful activities that contribute to my life and my problem becomes magnified.

The single biggest issue for me is that the time invested in my "daily work" is what I love and one does not become truly good at what one does not love.  It is just not possible.  One can become competent, one can become "good at", one can even become "skilled" at some level - but true mastery (and enjoyment) is derived when one puts in the time at something that contributes meaningfully to one's life, not just something that one has to do.

A puzzle, is it not?  How does one convert the time towards what will actually allow one to move one's life forward instead of treading water?

The only immediate fix I can imagine - because large changes usually do not go well - is simply that of starting to learn to manage the time I have better and stealing small chunks of it back.

Manage the time - If time is a resource, then treat it as such, not as some endless things I can spend and spend as if there was going to be an infinite supply.  Manage my time, especially at the things I like less, better. Do what I have to do - but be sure that I do not spend more time than I need to.

Stealing small chunks - Begin to take back small chunks of the day to reinvest in the things I do love to do.  There are small amounts - five minutes here, fifteen minutes there - that I can begin to take back and make my own.  Yes, maybe they will not be spent precisely on everything that I love, but I can begin to fill my life a bit more with the other things.

Ultimately there is only so much time.  My job - all of our jobs - is to use it in the best, most productive way possible.  We just need to accept the fact of its limited nature and act accordingly.