The Value of Time

It feels like I've already done a blog on this but even if I have, it is worth re-itterating.

What I've been really beginning to realize is that time and time commitment makes all the difference in life these days. Let's look at a few examples:

1) I had lost some weight last week because I was taking the time to work out and eat properly. Now this week I've gained back the weight plus a little bit more because I haven't worked out or eaten properly. I didn't lose the ability to work out or to ingest healthy food, I simply committed a bulk of my time to playing Xbox instead. This created a build up effect that landed me here: By playing Xbox more, I took the time away from spending it in the gym. Also by playing Xbox more, I spent less time sleeping, giving me less time in the morning to prepare an actual breakfast, and also leaving less time to prepare a prepared lunch.

2) A friend of mine was dumb as shit in junior high. Let's just say her initials were CT, and she wasn't very bright. Anyway, in high school she got decent grades because she committed her time to studying and getting high marks on exams to flaunt in other people's faces. It's not that she got mentally smarter, but she had more time to review the material that was going to be tested. Consequently, she got higher grades and she also had less time to socialize, which made her horrible at making or keeping friends.

3) Kobe Bryant spends an average of at least 5 hrs a day at the gym working on his game. Not to say that he isn't naturally a great basketball player, but as years go by, he is by no means becoming a smarter or more naturally skilled basketball player. Not only that, but he's falling more and more out of his age where he could expect the peak performance of his career. Still he is known as one of the best basketball players in the game today because he commits much more time to the sport than any other player.

What I'm trying to say is that what you decide to spend your time on ultimately defines who you are and the level of success that you will achieve in any given area. Of course there are limiting factors such as diminishing returns (the concept that stipulates the amount of benefit you receive from any activity will diminish over time and repetition), and the desire to live a balanced life. But with the availability of the Internet and our current access to data about absolutely anything, we can really become the master of whatever we like.

My brother has been making wicked halloween costumes and props for a number of years now and I'm sure people often ask him how he ever learnt to do something like that. The answer is that he takes the time to look over the tutorials and forums available online, devotes the time it takes to attempt the production of those props with its given failures and successes, and then continues the learning the process. I don't take away from his creativity but some people see that as what solely gives him the ability to do that. I chalk creativity up to what would motivate him to make those cool props, and maybe something that allows him to get better at it more quickly than others.

I guess what I'm getting at is that limitations are boundless. As long as there is something that you want to do and you have the time to devote to it, your success will all depend on how many hours you put into activity.

I must have played COD for about 20 hours this week so far. I would consider myself a good COD player, and I'm sure it has to do with the crazy amount of hours I take playing the game. However, is that some kind of accomplishment that I hold dear? Hell no. It's not gonna matter in 5 years how many times I've prestiged in that game (or even within the next 2 months seeing as the new COD is coming out). So it makes me think, shouldn't I be focusing even 50% of that time on something that I consider as more meaningful?

Just food for thought on the idea of killing time. If time = opportunity for growth, are you not killing opportunity or killing growth when you do something pointless with the bulk of your time?