The True Measure of Time
One day your time will be gone. Is that what makes it valuable? Is it merely the scarcity of time that gives it value?
A Fly's Purpose
A fly, for instance, lives a remarkably short life, often spent in a relentless effort to escape the confines it was born into. It circles from lamp to window, seeking passage, subsisting on rotting food, annoying everyone in the room with the buzzing of its wings. Its time is demonstrably more scarce than ours, yet it seems less valuable.
Time Well Spent
Your time, by itself, holds no intrinsic value. If your days are spent on superficial consumption and ceaseless distraction, your time, by definition, is wasted. Unlike the fly, humanity—uniquely among all other life on Earth—possesses the extraordinary ability to translate abstract thought into concrete reality. This power is the source of time's value, not scarcity. You must use time to practice this ability to create for the purpose of enriching your community, and less time spent distracted and consumed.
Therefore, resist the impulse to distract yourself. Consume food not merely for fleeting pleasure, but with the conscious intent to nourish your body. Engage in discourse not out of a simple need for interaction, but from genuine interest. Do not seek entertainment solely as a means to occupy your time. Instead, pursue endeavors that genuinely enrich your community. Embrace moments of solitude, allowing your thoughts to unfold unimpeded. Utilize your time for creation, for this ability is exclusive to the human experience. Do not permit this singular capacity to be consumed by distraction and endless consumption. In retrospect, you may find your life was a continuous cycle of acquisition. Every effort purportedly made to "enrich" your life was merely an endeavor to consume more. Education sought for financial gain, a lifetime of labor for a larger dwelling, a constant pursuit of the next advertised commodity. What was the ultimate return on this investment of your time? A gourmet meal every night, better-tasting rotten flesh? A branded wearable accessory, priced higher than others? A prestigious, yet soul-crushing, professional title to make you feel proud of all the time wasted achieving that title?
Where Did the Time Go?
Modern society, it appears, makes it very easy to waste your time in the pursuit of worldly desire. With a constant feed of movies, music, and videos showcasing the fleeting pleasures of materialism, how can one not seek to fulfill worldly desire? As individuals in this world, we are perpetually distracted by this feed, never given the chance to ask, "Is 20 years of precious life worth an extra 1,000 square feet? Should I spend 8 hours a day to afford food when most of the time I eat not out of hunger, but just out of the ceremony of eating?" To follow this path of pursuit for commodities will leave you feeling empty, angry, anxious, and afraid.
To replace time consuming with time spent creating would change the way the world operates. For if such an awakening were to occur, if individuals were to recognize their true creative essence, the established power structures would inevitably collapse. The architects of consumerism would find themselves without a consuming populace; their very lifestyles of taking a piece of everyone's fruit of labor would be rendered unsustainable. They would fall into a reality where they are now responsible for growing their own food and building their own houses instead of collecting our money and paying us to do said tasks for them.
The architect of money is the thief of time.
Actionable Tips
Spend less time entertaining yourself. Instead, sit in silence and listen to your own thoughts.
Recall or conceive of something you've always wanted to create—perhaps a book, a business, or a sculpture.
Outline the steps it will take to create the thing you've envisioned.
Act on the first step.
Time Wasters Club Patch
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Don’t let your time decay before you can use it
3 in. stickers
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