I remember when I was talking to this veteran guy. He’s been in the military for 20 over twenty years. He was about to get his pension but was distraught/upset because he didn’t appreciate how much time had passed since he served.
He never figured out what he cared about besides the job his superiors assigned him. Starting over without orders or a boss to follow was uncharted territory. He felt he had wasted the past twenty years following orders without question. It was time he could never get back.
The biggest waste of time in your life is when you don’t figure out what you’re uniquely good at, what you enjoy, your strengths and weaknesses, and what you can offer the world that no one else can.
Most people take the tasks and things assigned to them by others without question. They don’t assign themselves projects to learn. They’re afraid of failure. Maybe they are not curious and are content with being just OK. They do the minimum—whatever life hands them.
We have so much more potential. We’ve got to experiment and find out what we’re passionate about and how we can apply our unique skills to reality.
What Is Worth Your Time
When the veteran got upset, it was when he realized he had assigned his life away to someone else’s goals/wishes/desires. He didn’t have a clue what he was living for. He didn’t know what made him tick—two decades later.
The biggest waste of your time (and your life) is never questioning the things that you’re doing.
Take the time to figure out:
- Your deep goals
- What you really care about (vision + purpose)
- What motivates you
- What kind of impact you want to create
- How you want to live for your family, kids, and community
When you don’t ask these questions, you go on autopilot, preventing you from reaching a higher level. You’re going to take whatever is given to you instead of giving back something unique with your gifts and abilities that only you can give.
—This questions came from Quora.