virgin islands scene

Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
-- Sydney J. Harris
 

 

Wednesday, January 5, 2000

Time well spent

What if you could decide, at the beginning of each day, exactly how your time would be allocated that day? How many minutes, or hours, would you allocate for being angry, resentful, envious, frustrated, or consumed with spite? Probably not any. It would seem foolish to block off any of your precious time for such useless and destructive pursuits.

And yet, during the course of each day most people let these things eat away at time that could otherwise be focused in more positive directions. Think about it. Does that make any sense at all?

The fact is, you can decide each day how your time will be spent. You can decide not to let yourself automatically react negatively. You can decide to devote all your priceless time to positive, fulfilling pursuits. You control your thoughts. You control your behavior.

Before you automatically react to something, ask yourself, “This morning when planning my day, would I ever have decided to devote my time to this?” You cannot control what happens to you, but you most certainly can control what you do about it.

Make each response a positive, productive one and enjoy the immense benefits of time well spent.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©2000 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.