Time Well Spent

Yesterday we drove back to New York from Virginia. Just outside the city we ran into some bumper to bumper traffic, which in New York is a pretty normal occurrence. We sat in the car on an off ramp for a good hour, in which we probably moved 200 yards. We were pretty pissed being that this was the icing to top off an eight hour road trip. If you have ever traveled with a child you know that eight hours in the car is a menacing proposition. No one was happy in our car. Thank the Good Lord for Elmo on YouTube and Cheerios. They saved us this day.

We finally came down the off ramp. Imagine two off ramps feeding into each other, leading up to about 10-12 toll booths. Now put 4000 cars in this funnel and you have an issue. Obviously there was some serious carnage on the other side of this toll area. A few fire trucks and an ambulance even cut through all the traffic causing more of a dilemma. People were sideways in there cars, cars were jostling for position by millimeters, while cutting off the next person. We were just waiting to see a flipped tractor trailer spewing gas and a huge fire, or maybe a sinkhole swallowing up a dozen cars. Forty-five minutes later when we finally got through the toll booth we saw the problem. Merging! People couldn’t figure out how to merge. What the EFFFF! All stupidity. Pure stupidity! I feel like we were cheated and there was no closure to this situation. It felt like a tremendous wrong that could not be righted. It was a severe injustice that had no chance of redemption.

The rest of the way home we were up in arms. Trying to figure out how people have such a problem just functioning in normal situations. This was clearly a few hours of our lives we would never get back. Unbelievable! This made me think about time spent. How do I spend time? How should I spend my time? How should a person spend their time?

I was talking with one of our athletes the other day about our career choices. We were talking about how to evaluate these and how they tie into the feeling of being fulfilled. It’s easy to get caught up in the small things from day to day and forget where you are pointed in this life. I think that fulfillment has a lot to do with your effect on this world. I believe that a person that feels fulfilled is a person extremely capable of having a positive effect on those around them.

In the previous scenario, I think we can all agree that time in traffic was not well spent, but if our career, in our lives if we are making lives better around us, I believe that is time well spent. If there is something you are good at and you pursue that to the best of your ability and you help others along the way, I believe you have spent your time well. I believe this to be true regardless of your vocation. If it allows you to contribute to this world, you’re killin’ it, my friend.

A pretty solid human named Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Far and away, the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” He was dead on. There are lots of reasons to choose different paths in our lives. I believe choosing a path because of effect is a valiant pursuit. Which other allows you to have a positive effect on this world? Which path allows you to do what you are good at to help others? All vocations have mundane tasks, but that doesn’t devalue the pursuit or the life. If you can trace the choices you make back to fulfillment and to effect, I believe that the time that you spend, no matter how long that may be, will be well spent.

 

Danny Lesslie

@dannylesslie